From the Achieve Foundation:
The Achieve Foundation has awarded over $33,000 in grants to programs and projects that will touch the lives of hundreds of children across the South Orange-Maplewood School District. Added to grants awarded in the fall, this round of funding brings the total spent on teacher and administrator-driven initiatives to $110,564 for the current school year. Named after the Foundation’s founder, the Deborah Prinz Educator Grants are intended to help build community, inspire innovation and improve equity in the District in ways that impact a large number of students.
Given the ongoing effects of the pandemic, many of the grants in this cycle help to remind children how inspiration and human interaction are intertwined. “The Grants Committee was thrilled to see the importance administrators and teachers put on requests focusing on community engagement, whether through assemblies, field trips or artist in residence programs,” said Irene Langlois, co-chair of the Grants Committee. “The benefits are two-fold: Not only are the programs rich educational opportunities, they also provide new social connections for the students.”
A grant to Maplewood Middle School will fund three sixth grade school assemblies, bringing a scientist, poet and African step dancers to the school.
One of the largest grants, for example, will fund three sixth grade school assemblies at Maplewood Middle School. The assemblies will bring a scientist, a poet and African step dancers to the school to perform and engage with the children.
The Foundation will also spend more than $6,000 on field trips at Seth Boyden. The school – which has the district’s highest number of students qualifying for Free & Reduced Lunch —will be able to send both the fourth and fifth graders to Sandy Hook for a marine science experiential program that is usually the culminating event for fourth graders. Last year, the fourth grade class trip was canceled due to COVID. The fifth graders will also get their own elementary school capstone trip to Meadowbrook Country Day Camp, where they can spend the day with their friends and teachers, participating in outdoor education and team building activities.
Several authors will come speak in the District this spring thanks to Achieve grants. The most wide-ranging, which was sought by Maplewood Middle School principal Dara Gronau and was partially funded by the MMS HSA, provides a virtual visit with New York Times bestselling author and speaker Dr. Sonja Cherry-Paul. This visit will lay the groundwork for a community wide discussion on racism and equity when middle schoolers and their parents are invited to read Stamped together in the spring.
At Columbia High School (CHS), Achieve will provide $3,000 to allow students in the brand-new Caribbean History course to interact with artists and members of the Caribbean community through programming coordinated with the Raíces Cultural Center, a nonprofit based in New
Brunswick that is dedicated to preserving cultural roots through the arts, history and ecology. If COVID restrictions allow gathering, there will be a culminating event for the whole CHS community.
Achieve is awarding $3,000 to the CHS Arts Department to help fund an artist-in-residence who will help film students make their own documentary; it also partially funded a trip to the Cornell Model UN Conference for members of the Cougars chapter, an organization that includes students in all four grades. These two grants are being put out to the public in hopes of adding to the funding Achieve provided. More information on Direct Funding can be found on the Achieve website (achievefoundation.org).
Several grants are aimed at at-risk populations. CHS math teacher Ahmad Sehwail will receive $1,223 for a program and original game he is developing to motivate students in danger of failing math. The CHS counseling department will receive $500 for raffle items to entice teens to take advantage of programs being offered. Speech therapist Amy Schwinder will receive $735 to pilot the use of new tools and therapies in articulation for younger students who struggle with communication and speaking issues.
Achieve Foundation Executive Director Eileen Collins Neri said, “We are thrilled to fund this wide array of special programs. exciting experiences and engaging learning opportunities in times of intense pressure and need for our students and faculty. Thanks go to our grants committee, volunteer Board of Trustees, and the generous donors in our community who make it possible for the Achieve Foundation to support our educators, students and families in this meaningful way when they need it most.”
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The Achieve Foundation of South Orange & Maplewood is a registered 501(c)3 organization that promotes high-quality education that prepares South Orange-Maplewood School District students for the future. We support our students, families and educators by addressing inequities, inspiring innovation and fostering community. Since 1999, Achieve has invested over $4 million for programs that support public education in our two towns. To learn more, please visit achievefoundation.org.
