|
|
|
Nominate an Unsung Hero as a City Schools Champion
Every year, unsung heroes work in our schools as parent leaders, representatives of organizations or causes or work directly with students. This November, ACSF is organizing an opportunity to celebrate and honor them. Every nominee will be recognized and a few will be selected as Champions who have gone above and beyond in their work to ensure that every City Schools student has the best foundation to succeed.
- Examples of Eligible Nominees:
- Parents
- Nonprofit organizations
- Religious groups
- Grassroots organizations
- Civic Groups
- Businesses
- Volunteers
Nominations can be submitted until October 1, 2010.
Download the nomination form in PDF
Email nominations to acsf@acsf.org
Asheville City Schools Foundation and LEAF in Schools & Streets
Partner to Support Local Artists teaching in Schools
"The arts reach students who are not otherwise being reached...in ways that they are not otherwise being reached. The arts connect student to themselves and each other. The arts transform the environment for learning."
Champions of Change: The Impact of Arts on Learning,
The President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities, 2010
ACSF's artist training in July engaged 35 artists in a process of seeing how their art connects to the standard course of study. Local artists-Graham Hackett, Lisa Klakulak and Lisa Zahiy-teamed up with Language & Art Teachers from Asheville City Schools-Moira Bradford, Robbie Lipe & Peter Parpan along with UNCA’s Mark Sidelnick Art Education and K12 specialist to facilitate the experience.
"We want to be able to bring 60 days of artist residences to students during the school year. This partnership empowers artists by giving them the tools they need to link their work with the standard course of study. We want to help local artists make a living and this project is encouraging schools to ‘buy local’ when it comes to artist residencies"
Loraine Martin, LEAF Outreach Director
$3,000 is still needed to support these school-based residencies. To this end, the Asheville City Schools Foundation and LEAF in Schools & Streets are raising money to develop an arts fund that will help fund these residencies.
On August 26 the partnership is hosting a fundraiser at Sante Wine Bar. The event will feature a wine tasting, a local cheese board available for pre-purchase and music. The suggested donation for the tasting is $10.
Tickets go on sale soon.
In Real Life: Engaging and Enriching Afterschool Experiences
for Middle Schoolers
What is your middle schooler going to do after school next year?
The Asheville City Schools Foundation along with many community partners will launch IRL this Fall 2010. Every middle school student will have a chance to sign up when school begins. Students will receive a menu of after school programs offered 5 days a week. They can select to do a variety of low-cost activities with transportation provided to off-site programs like UNC Asheville and to home neighborhoods at the end of the day. Programming will run from 3:30-5:15. Students will enjoy choosing from activities like African Dance, Debate Club, Basketball and more! Parents will enjoy one simple registration process! Registration begins in August.
Thank you to local designer Jim Julien for designing our IRL logo!
Blue Ridge Rollergirls have chosen ACSF as
non-profit charity recipient for April 24th doubleheader
BRRG will donate 10% of April 24th proceeds to ACS Foundation!
Additionally, ACS employees who bring their ID to the bout will receive a
special deal: buy 3 tickets get 1 free.
The Rollergirls have also generously donated 4 tickets as a prize for Field Day of Awesomeness. Register your team today! |
Second Annual Tour of Excellence Showcases
Grants for Teachers and Project Grants
The ACS Foundation held its second annual Tour of Excellence on Thursday, February 18. Over 40 community leaders and Foundation supporters gathered to learn more about the teachers and students effected by the Foundation's project grants and grants for teachers.
- At Asheville High participants saw Bill Hendley's metals students using complicated computer programming and mathematical equations to build chess pieces and got an overview of the award-winning SMARTT truck.
- At Hall Fletcher we heard from teachers and two second grade students who have experienced the Paideia Method in the classroom. Participants completed an activity that gave a poignant visual representation of the achievement gap. Co-Director Kate Pett also gave a presentation on the Listening to Our Teens project.
- The final stop was Asheville Middle, where we visited Sara Monson's class and heard from representatives of Slow Food Asheville. The group saw students making healthy muffins in several kitchen stations. Three students spoke with us about how the FEAST program has helped them in school and taught them how to cook on their own.
Thank you to the participants in this year's Tour of Excellence!
See WWNC-AM 570 photos and videos |
Progress Energy Funds Sustainability Project
at School of Inquiry and Life Sciences (SILSA)
The Foundation and Progress Energy held a community reception last week at the School of Inquiry and Life Sciences (SILSA) to announce and celebrate the winners of the SILSA Sustainability Project. SILSA's 200 students were divided into teams to investigate ways the school could become more sustainable. Each team developed a comprehensive grant proposal for their solution and presented their research to teachers and peers.
Martha Thompson from Progress Energy served on the panel of judges and attended the reception to present the $2,500 check to the winning team. The winners, Eowyn Lucas and Holly Roberts, submitted a proposal to replace styrofoam trays in the school's cafeteria with reusable ones.
Congratulations to Eowyn Lucas and Holly Roberts and thank you to
Progress Energy for supporting ACSF!
Citizen-Times coverage here |
Read Co-Director Leah Ferguson's Commentary in
Asheville Citizen-Times, Sunday January 10, 2010
"There are many who just feel that the ‘system is broken.’ However, what I have seen has renewed my faith, not in an institutionalized system, but in the individuals and community that comprise our public system."
Full text of the article here |
Listening to Our Teens Project Report Now Available!
“If you don’t have something to do, you’ll find something to do, and it will be the wrong thing…”—Asheville Middle School teen
The lack of targeted, engaging out of school programming for young teens (ages 11-14) has serious negative consequences for our community, including a widening achievement gap and an increase in violence by young teens.
To learn more about the needs of middle school students and how Asheville might respond with increased and enriched opportunities, the Asheville City Schools Foundation (ACSF) and more than 20 community partners designed a “Listening to Our Teens Project.”
A highly representative group of 125 students and family members were interviewed. The interviews were coded into quantitative data that provides ample information for developing comprehensive, effective after school and summer programming for young teens in Asheville.
More information about the project, the needs of young teens in Asheville, and the community response ACSF is leading can be found here.
Click here to read the executive summary.
|
Asheville Learning Links
The Asheville City Schools Foundation’s commitment to student success extends beyond the classroom and into the community. We continually seek new ways to partner with organizations that serve our students, their families, and their neighborhoods by improving their quality of life and providing opportunities for enrichment. Through the Asheville Learning Links project, ACSF has partnered with the Corporation for National Service of North Carolina’s VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) program to offer support to local nonprofits that strengthen the fabric of our community.
For over 40 years, VISTA volunteers have helped local organizations to help to bring individuals and families out of poverty. Since our program’s inception in 2007, the Asheville City Schools Foundation’s VISTA volunteers have:
- Established the CAYLA (City of Asheville Youth Leadership Academy) program, which offers promising Asheville High School student internship opportunities, leadership training, and college scholarships.
- Implemented the Listening to Our Teens project—a city-wide assessment of the needs of middle school students and their families—and based on its results, established the Listening To Our Teens Network, community-wide coalition aimed at providing quality afterschool programs for middle school students.
- Provided enriching educational experiences for hundreds of local school kids, including: Mad City Money, a financial literacy program implemented by OnTrack Financial at Asheville High: a babysitting training program for teens at the Pisgah View community; an afterschool academic coaching program with partners Youthful Hand, Delta House, and the YWCA.
- Raised over $70, 000 for local nonprofits.
For more information about the program, email Joanne O’Sullivan at joanne.osullivan@asheville.k12.nc.us. Check out some of the exciting work our VISTAs are engaged at our blog: http://www.ashevillecityschoolsfoundation.blogspot.com/
Asheville City Schools Foundation
Gannett Teacher Scholarship Winners
|
|
|
| Name |
School |
| Donnell Burch |
Vance |
| Kirstie Fisher |
Vance |
| Steph Keever |
AHS |
| S Allman |
AMS |
| Cynthia Calhoun |
Vance/HF |
| Michael McIntosh |
RLC |
| Rebecca Smith |
HF |
| Moira Bradford |
AMS |
| Susan Allman |
AMS |
| Kristalyn Bunyan |
AMS |
| Kirstie Fischer |
Vance |
| Michael Holton |
AMS |
| Marvin Smith |
AMS |
| Ellen Knight |
AHS |
Progress Energy Sponsors Grants to Teachers
for Energy Education and Conservation
This year we awarded $18,000 to teachers to implement energy education projects that impacted 1037 students at seven school sites. Teacher grants in Energy Education and Conservation provide much needed resources to create engaging units of study that make learning leap off the page. Projects included conversion of a gas-powered car to electric power, construction of functioning solar panels, construction of an outdoor classroom with alternative materials, and much more! A description of the projects is attached here.
The Foundation provides grant-writing workshops and individual tutorials to teachers and staff. Methods of evaluation are developed with support from the Foundation, and each project is rigorously evaluated for student impact and learning.
(Grant requests were almost twice the amount available, and good proposals went unfunded. You can fund a grant with a donation here!)
Congratulations to these teachers and staff members who devoted extra time to design and implement extraordinary projects in energy and conservation education!
Grant Author |
School |
Project Title |
Jim Brice |
AHS/SILSA |
Converting Gas-Powered Cars to Electric |
Loralee Iglesias/
Christie Tongier |
RLC |
Understanding Alternative & Conventional Sources of Energy |
Jocelyn Reese |
Vance Elementary |
Developing Inquiry Based Units for the Study of Energy and Ecology |
Alan Wells |
HF Elementary |
Building a Bio-Mass Fuel Generator |
Melissa Hedt/Nick Rogowsky |
AMS |
Designing Solar Houses |
Michael McIntosh |
RLC |
Becoming Leaders in Energy Conservation |
Victoria Angelotti |
Ira B Jones |
Changing the World, One Bag at a Time |
Melissa Boks |
Ira B Jones
Elementary |
Training Teachers to Engage Students in Deep Discussions About Energy and the Environment |
Crystal Hartis |
Vance Elementary |
Building an Energy Efficient Outdoor Classroom |
Cindy Byron |
AHS |
Building Solar-Powered Cars |
|
|
|
