District 67 Celebrates GRANT DAY 2022!

The mission of the Spirit of 67 Foundation is to raise funds and acquire resources to provide enriching, educational and cultural experiences for the students, parents, faculty and staff of Lake Forest School District 67 that might not otherwise be provided. Grant Day, held on April 20th this year, is the day that the district 67 school community learns which grants will be awarded.

In addition to its signature home tour (this year it was a tour of Outdoor Spaces), a student experience based auction and an upcoming ladies night out (In the Spirit of Style, May 19, 2022), the Spirit of 67 Foundation receives donations from its school families, event sponsors and corporate sponsorships. Generous district 67 families have donated a record amount to the Spirit of 67 Foundation this school year.

Colleen Berto, Vice President of Grants for the Spirit of 67 noted, "Once again, the Spirit is thrilled to be supporting innovative and interactive grants that help to fulfill our mission of enhancing and enriching the District 67 experience! District 67 teachers and staff, as well as our parents and donors, are such wonderful partners in our efforts to touch every student in every school every day."

Some of the grants being celebrated include a Cross Country and Track Tent for Deerpath Middle School's athletic teams, enhancements to the middle school's library and tech spaces including Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality and livestream cameras, New Contrabass for music classes and new Kitchen-Aid standing mixers for the Home Arts classes and much more!

Sheridan Elementary School is receiving an early childhood playground and Everett Elementary School will now be able to use its courtyard as an Outdoor Classroom with seating for reading and classroom lessons. Fourth grade students at Cherokee Elementary School won a grant for indoor and outdoor recess options that highlight STEM learning!

These are only a few of the awards being awarded and they are in addition to some of the repeat awards that have become signature enhancements granted by the Spirit in district 67 such as Visiting Authors and Scientist programs, Foreign language programs and Music enhancements.

General Music Teacher, Dr. Jean Hersey graciously stated, "Because of the Spirit of 67 Foundation, students can discover and build upon their own innate musicality through Orff percussion instruments, ukulele, and guitar (all of which have been provided to some degree by the Spirit), in addition to singing, dancing and recorder. These increased opportunities allow students to develop not only musicality, but creativity, fine motor skills, and problem-solving techniques."

Anthony Pollina, teacher of STEM at Deerpath Middle School is awarded a grant that he requested along with Home Arts teacher, Karen Pedersen bridging two subjects to make it possible for students to create their own graphic designs and then translate them into original fashions. "I am so excited for the potential this project will have for our students... Not only will it be great practice for a real world application of the skills we develop in our classes, but students will be able to take their designs home and show them off wherever they go!" stated Mr. Pollina.

In all, nearly 30 grants were awarded today for a total exceeding $200,000! For more information about the Spirit of 67 Foundation or if you are interested in making a donation, please visit www.spiritof67foundation.org.