District 99 Education Foundation Awards nearly $20,000 in Grants

Submitted by District 99 Education Foundation.

The District 99 Education Foundation awarded nearly $20,000 in grants to benefit the two schools of Community High School District 99, North High School and South High School in Downers Grove. The grant recipients were recognized at the District 99 Board of Education meeting on May 18, 2015.

“Our purpose is to push forward and to grow the curriculum to move beyond what is the standard in education, and to continue to make our high schools two of the best in the state,” said District 99 Education Foundation President Eric Olson, who resides in Downers Grove.

Each year, the Foundation accepts grant requests from teachers in District 99 who want to make the classroom environment more challenging to students, but lack the necessary resources. A grant committee reviews and considers each application, and then determines the final award recipients.

The District 99 Education Foundation will support the following projects in 2015:

• Assistive technology devices for special services students at North High. Teachers Karen Brown, Kim Jaros and Lisa Mangelsdorf are grant recipients;
• Precious metal clay for jewelry making classes at North High. Teacher Leslie Miller is the grant recipient;
• Cintiq software for digital painting and touchup for fine arts classes at South High. TeacherMichelle Lynn is the grant recipient;
• DNA replication and protein synthesis for science classes at North High. Teacher Patrick Murphy is the grant recipient;
• Summer reading for all students at South High. English Department Chair Erik Borne is the grant recipient;
• “Spiker boxes” for neuromuscular physiology analysis in anatomy and physiology classes. Teachers James Workman and Lisa MacArtney are the grant recipients;
• Community based learning for special services students at South High. Teachers Peter Freischlag and Robert Kud are the grant recipients;
• Anatomy in clay materials for North High and South High science students. Science Department Chairs Karen Eder and Mike Heinz are the grant recipients

The District 99 Education Foundation provides financial assistance for District 99 students and staff in support of innovative curriculum and technologies that fall outside of traditional public funding. The Foundation was founded in 1994 as a way for alumni, parents, educators and the community to support the continued excellence of educational curriculum provided to students and faculty.

To learn more about the Foundation (which is an independent 501(c)(3) non-profit organization) or to make a donation, please visit www.d99ef.org.

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