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2007 Foundation Awards ... Building Dreams

The CCPS Education Foundation was formed in May of 2006, and its board is made up of parents, business leaders and other community members. The Foundation was created to provide financial support for projects and programs that benefit students and enhance the quality of education in Carroll County. These projects and programs might otherwise be forgotten within our community. In less than a year, the Foundation raised over $40,000, through donations from the 18 Board Members and local businesses, allowing the first set of awards to be handed out earlier than originally planned. Teachers were asked to fill out a short application describing the project they would like the Foundation to fund. A total of 39 applications were received, ranging from funding the building of a gazebo for a labyrinth to participating in a Shakespeare festival. Some classes even completed their application together. Members of the Board’s Award Committee judged the applications, and according to Board Members, choosing which applications to fund was very difficult.

On February 7, 2007, representatives from the Carroll County Public Schools Education Foundation and the Board of Education, along with school system staff, distributed awards to various schools within the county. The “Star Patrol” traveled in a yellow school bus and delivered an oversized check, a red, white and blue star-shaped balloon bouquet and a corsage to each winner. Throughout the day a total of 18 awards were handed out in amounts ranging from $300 to $2,000, totaling $25,000. Many teachers were teaching classes and surprised by their arrival, and quite delighted, to say the least.

Many of the projects that were funded by the Foundation would have otherwise been paid for by the teachers themselves. “Our teachers are so dedicated, they use their own money to finance creative, innovative programs to benefit their students,” said Robin Kable, Foundation Director and Coordinator of Business and Community Partnerships for CCPS.

School / Applicant's Name	Description of Project
Carroll County Career and Technology Center James Gilford, Engineering Instructor/ CCCTC Robotics Club	The Tech Center’s 30-member Robotics Club will participate in the FIRST Robotics Competition, an exciting, multinational competition that teams professionals and young people to solve an engineering design problem in an intense and competitive way.

Carroll County Public Schools Department of Minority Achievement and Intervention Programs Patricia Levroney, Minority Achievement Liaison	This department is collaborating with the NAACP, Human Relations Commission, and Boys and Girls Club of Westminster to host five regional minority family forums. These forums are designed to build collaborative and positive relationships with and among the minority families in the Carroll County community.

Carroll Springs School Jennifer Ways, Physical Therapist	Carroll Springs School will obtain a hydraulic changing table for the therapy pool area. This will allow the students to work on dressing and transitioning skills and provide a safer means for staff to assist students in mastering these skills. This project directly supports the mission of Carroll Springs School: “A learning community where all members receive the resources and supports necessary for continuing improvement and learning.”

East Middle School Lorene Livermore, RLA 8/English I Teacher	East Middle School will sponsor three separate Shakespeare Festivals in April in an effort to better transition incoming 6th graders and expose them to the middle school culture. During each day of the festival, English I students will run five interactive workshops for the visiting students before performing the play Romeo and Juliet.

Francis Scott Key High School Mentorship Program Mary Lynne Ziegler, Parent/Community Liaison, Northwest Region Schools	Over 60 students in northwest region schools are being mentored during the school day by adults and FSK senior mentors. Funds will be used by the Mentoring Connections Project to provide print materials and incentives/rewards for mentees, as well as to increase the student population being served and to expand mentoring in other CCPS communities.

Francis Scott Key High School Gina Felter, Science Teacher	This project will begin a long-term partnership between FSK and Hashawha Environmental Center. It will begin with the cultivation of 500 chestnut trees in the school’s greenhouse and courtyard in the spring. The second phase of the yearlong project will be to construct a deer enclosure at Hashawha next fall.

Gateway School Lyndsay Pyles-Rogers, Experiential Education Teacher	Gateway School will purchase supplies for a gazebo for the center of its Labyrinth. The gazebo will be used for personal reflection and calming purposes. The gazebo will allow students to refocus and perform better in school.

North Carroll High School Ruth Winsker, School Counselor	North Carroll High School will establish a mentorship program to serve at-risk students at North Carroll and Shiloh Middle Schools. The objectives of the project are to build positive relationships between high school students and middle school students in order to improve attendance, performance, and behaviors of identified at-risk students.

North Carroll High School Foundations of Technology Olympics Richard Weaver, IL Tech/Ag/FACS Teacher	The Foundations of Technology (FOT) Olympics will enrich the classroom experience of FOT students through a Technology Club engineering project. This year’s project will be to build and compete with other student teams.

Outdoor School Steve Heacock, Supervisor	Outdoor School will build a greenhouse that will engage students in meaningful environmental action while also producing a large volume of quality native trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants.

Robert Moton Elementary School Marcy Myers, Mathematics Resource Teacher	Using Children’s Literature to Support Mathematics Instruction will purchase classroom math libraries to be used in grades K-5 at Robert Moton. Math teachers will plan, with the math resource teacher, at least one mathematics lesson incorporating literature.

Shiloh Middle School Diane Spalt, 8th Grade Math Teacher	Shiloh Middle School will sponsor a Carnival Night for elementary schools. Eighth grade students will build the games to be used by the elementary students.

South Carroll High School Kathleen Walker, Faculty Advisor, Student Government Association	South Carroll High School will present its 2nd annual Unity Day concert in March to promote an appreciation for the shared cultural history of the American people. The goal is to encourage tolerance and respect for people of all ethnic backgrounds and to foster an enthusiasm for cultural diversity.

South Carroll High School Jerome Ellis, LFI Instructor Iris Wingert, Media Specialist	South Carroll High School will develop a clay animation project to enhance learning for students who are developmentally disabled. After reading an original short story, students will develop a script/storyboard, produce scenery and characters from construction paper and clay, and then use specialized equipment to create images that will be animated.

Taneytown Elementary School Sarah Shorb, 3rd Grade Teacher	Taneytown Elementary School third graders will participate in a unit on folktales, including fairy tales, tall tales, trickster tales, and fables. Students will compare literary genres and text from diverse cultures and will be motivated to read independently.

West Middle School Mary Swack, Assistant Principal	The Student Advocates for a Fearless Environment (SAFE) program establishes a proactive model to use for collaborative problem solving between students and administrators, teachers, and staff. Each year students will be selected from each grade level representing various ethnic subgroups to participate in the Students in Action Summit. During the summit, students will identify and discuss issues they face at the school and resolutions to problems.

Westminster High School Engineering Team Hugh Jamison, Advisor	Resources will be used to demonstrate the skills of Engineering Team students at local and national competitions and to reward students for what they do. The Team also will form partnerships with colleges and universities, and establish scholarships and connections for careers in the engineering field and secondary and post secondary teaching positions.

Winters Mill High School Maureen Rooney-Mata, Spanish Teacher IMPACT Club Advisor	Students at Winters Mill will participate in a weeklong diversity experience entitled Falcons Unite. Events will include a diversity assembly, a multicultural potluck dinner, advisory lessons, and foreign language week with special foods in the cafeteria and announcements that appreciate a different language and culture each day.