Lansing Educational Foundation Holds 2020 "Pride Patrol" and Awards Grant Recipients
Lansing Educational Foundation (LEF) held its annual Pride Patrol this week, starting on Tuesday, October 20th. During the annual Pride Patrol, LEF representatives surprise their grant recipients by presenting them with a large check and a few small gifts. This year's event was slightly smaller due to the pandemic and the inability to have outside visitors in the buildings. Nonetheless, Superintendent Dan Wessel, LEF President Christine Aus, and LEF Executive Director Sharon Burns still had fun surprising over fifty staff members across the district on Tuesday, October 20th and Friday, October 23rd.
Even with the cancellation of Lansing Educational Foundation's largest fundraisers this past spring and fall, they were still able to award a record-breaking number of grants to the Lansing School District this year. They awarded twenty-three Educate the Pride grants in the amount of $24,003.39, two Mary Kay Pape musical grants in the amount of $1,404.00, two Ted LoPresti Memorial grants in the amount of $934.08, four Autism grants in the amount of $3,902.13, and five buildings grants in the amount of $4,500.00. In addition to these classroom grants, Lansing Educational Foundation granted $2,500.00 for start-up costs of the new Lansing USD 469 preschool, $1,500.00 to cover the cost of classified staff at the all-district luncheon in August, and $1,000.00 worth of grants to our Teachers of the Year (Janet Moorehead and Vera Daniels) and Educational Support Professionals of the Year (Diane Kelly and Jennifer Zule).
This year's recipient of the largest Educate the Pride grant was Anne Krebs, the Lansing High School Robotics teacher. The funds from this grant were used to purchase supplies for a new Robotics class being offered at Lansing High School.
"The Lansing Educational Foundation Grant has facilitated practical experience building, programming, and troubleshooting robots," said Mrs. Krebs. "Students in the high school’s Robotics course have already learned to build a basic robot and program simple movements. Perhaps most important, those same students regularly have to troubleshoot issues with robot programming and structure when the machines don’t perform as expected. The students will continue to add mechanisms and sensors to the basic robot. At the same time, the programming requirements will expand. These opportunities would not be available without the generosity of the Lansing community and the Lansing Education Foundation."
The total grant giving to Lansing School District by Lansing Educational Foundation has been $46,062.59 so far this school year!
Lansing Educational Foundation is also thrilled to partner with The Coterie Theatre in Kansas City and fund Coterie Classroom Immersions for students in thirty-eight classrooms ranging from first to twelfth grades. The Coterie Theatre has professional teaching artists that will work closely with our classroom teachers and provide enrichment in the arts via Zoom. One of the teachers who is taking part in this grant is second-grade teacher, Mrs. Barb Robinson.
“What an awesome experience to have the Coterie Theatre grant for second grade," said Mrs. Robinson. "The second grade teachers picked out a reading-level appropriate short script adapted for their class. For example, my class will read Anansi and the Five, and each student will read a different part on a "virtual field trip" and will Zoom on their iPads with the Coterie story facilitator, Lacy Cunningham. The story also covers our social emotional learning standard. Thank you to LEF for the grant from all the second grade teachers!"
Watch this website for more information about the specific Coterie Classroom Immersions going on in our district this school year.
The primary goal of the Lansing Educational Foundation is to provide support to innovative learning opportunities in the Lansing School District. Since its inception in 2004, the Lansing Educational Foundation has been able to accomplish this by awarding more than $340,000 in grants and funding to the Lansing School District.
"With all the changes this school year has brought to our teachers and students, we are thrilled to have funded over $46,000 in grants so far this school year," said LEF Executive Director Sharon Burns. "Due to the pandemic, we were forced to cancel our three largest fundraisers since last March. Through the generosity of our donors and our annual campaign, we hope to make up for this loss and continue to fund all the grant requests we receive that match our vision and mission statement."
Keri Litewski and Jessica Morris - Very, Very Vocabulary
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Rafaella Saltigerald & Jessica Morris - Language & Literacy / Scott Meirose & Rafaella Saltigerald - Little Minds Exploring
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Cindy Willis & Keri Litewski - Early Childhood Gets STEAMed
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Cindy Willis and Lori Daly - Exploration and Creation Stations
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Mary Alice Schroeger - Special Education Building Grant
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Mindy Wells, Mary Yandura, and Christine Bachtel - Lansing Elementary Building Grant - Social Thinking Across the Day
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Jessica Kowalewski - Ted LoPresti Memorial Fund "Stem"ulate the Mind
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Holly Krause - Switching on Communication
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Andrea Shepard, Jake Hanson, Beth Dowty, George Shannon, Parker Ast - Organizing the Function
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Leesa White - Sensory & Sand Tray
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Mary Yandura and Christine Bachtel - Lion Pride Zen Den
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Carla Gutshall and Suzanne Phillips - Gardening Grant
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Sue Anderson and Janet Farrar - Lansing Intermediate Building Grant - Social Thinking Across the Day
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Brooks Jenkins - Lansing Middle School Building Grant
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Cindy James - Building Literacy Skills for DHH Students
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Molly Lienemann - FVR Library 2
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Robert Schofer - Mary Kay Pape Sight Reading Grant
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Rachel Sheeley & Nicole Wallace - Filling in Learning Gaps
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Vera Daniels - Sew Much Better in Makerspace
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Nicole Wallace - Ted LoPresti Memorial Fund Hands on Math Grant
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Josh Yoakam - Habits of the Mind and Coterie Classroom Immersions Grant
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Rob McKim - Lansing High School Building Grant
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Aaron Edwards - Mary Kay Pape Beginning Guitars Grant
PHOTO CREDIT - LHS Senior, Kendra Schneider
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Julie Hinckley - CLEOS KU Creativity Lab
PHOTO CREDIT: LHS Senior, Kendra Schneider
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Anne Krebs - Robotics Grant
PHOTO CREDIT: LHS Senior, Kendra Schneider
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Stephanie Merritt - Culinary Lab Upgrade
PHOTO CREDIT LHS Senior, Kendra Schneider
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Amanda Edwards - Early Work Experience on the Farm
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Terri Dominick & Scott Meirose - SENSE-ational Learning
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Linda Tekuelve & George Shannon - Self Regulation
PHOTO CREDIT: LHS Senior, Kendra Schneider
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First Grade - Coterie Classroom Immersions
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First Grade - Coterie Classroom Immersions
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Second Grade - Coterie Classroom Immersions
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Sixth Grade - Coterie Classroom Immersions
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English 10 - Coterie Classroom Immersions
PHOTO CREDIT: LHS Senior, Kendra Schneider
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Larissa Maranell - Forensics Coterie Classroom Immersions
PHOTO CREDIT: LHS Senior, Kendra Schneider
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English 9 - Coterie Classroom Immersions
PHOTO CREDIT: LHS Senior, Kendra Schneider
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Shelly Twitchell - Coterie Classroom Immersions KC Rep Theatre Fieldtrip
PHOTO CREDIT: LHS Senior, Kendra Schneider
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Click Here for Slideshow: 2020-2021 Lansing Educational Foundation Pride Patrol
Congratulations to our 2020 - 2021 grant recipients!
EDUCATE THE PRIDE GRANTS | ||
Jennah Flynn (carried over from 2019-2020) |
VR Grant | $ 5,000.00 |
Cindy Willis / Lori Daly |
Exploration and Creation Stations | $ 1,000.00 |
Keri Litewski / Jessica Morris |
Very, Very Vocabulary | $ 936.90 |
Jessica Morris / Rafaella Saltigerald |
Language & Literacy | $ 1,000.00 |
Rafaella Saltigerald / Scott Meirose |
Little Minds Exploring | $ 1,000.00 |
Cindy Willis / Keri Litewski |
Early Childhood Gets STEAMed | $ 1,000.00 |
Christine Bachtel / Mary Yandura |
Lion Pride Zen Den | $ 636.00 |
Carla Gutshall / Suzanne Phillips |
Gardening | $ 1,000.00 |
Holly Krause / Siara Cook |
Switching on Communication | $ 1,000.00 |
Andrea Shepard, Jake Hanson, Beth Dowty, George Shannon, Parker Ast |
Organizing the Function | $ 1,000.00 |
Mindy Wells, Sue Anderson, Christine Bachtel, Mary Yandura, Janet Farrar |
Social Thinking Across the Day | $ 1,000.00 |
Leesa White |
Sensory Seating & Sand Tray | $ 469.92 |
Josh Yoakam |
Habits of the Mind | $ 185.00 |
Vera Daniels |
Sew Much Better in Makerspace | $ 300.00 |
Cindy James |
Building Literacy Skills for DHH Students | $ 497.20 |
Molly Lienemann |
FVR Library 2 | $ 500.00 |
Rachel Sheeley / Nicole Wallace |
Filling in Learning Gaps | $ 1,000.00 |
Shelly Twitchell |
In the Heights | $ 500.00 |
Julie Hinckley |
CLEOS KU Creativity Lab | $ 480.00 |
Anne Krebs |
Robotics in HS Classroom | $ 4,998.37 |
Stephanie Merritt |
Culinary Lab Upgrade | $ 500.00 |
MARY KAY PAPE GRANTS | ||
Robert Schofer |
Sight Reading | $ 384.99 |
Aaron Edwards |
Beginning Guitar | $ 1,020.00 |
TED LOPRESTI MEMORIAL FUND GRANTS | ||
Jessica Kowalewski |
"Stem"ulate the Mind ** | $ 457.56 |
Nicole Wallace |
Hands on Math ** | $ 476.52 |
AUTISM GRANTS | ||
Brett Becker, Nate Romey, Siara Cook, Kelly Denney, Linda Tekuelve |
Water, Fun, & Fitness | $ 920.84 |
Terri Dominick & Scott Meirose |
SENSE-ational Learning | $ 1,000.00 |
Amanda Edwards / Linda Tekuelve |
Early Work Experience on the Farm | $ 1,000.00 |
Linda Tekuelve / George Shannon |
Self-Regulation | $ 981.29 |
BUILDING GRANTS | ||
Mindy Wells |
Social Thinking | $ 1,000.00 |
Sue Anderson |
Social Thinking | $ 1,000.00 |
Brooks Jenkins |
Picnic Tables for Middle School | $ 1,000.00 |
Rob McKim |
School Spirit Enhancements | $ 1,000.00 |
Mary Alice Schroeger |
Wheels for Tots! | $ 500.00 |
OTHER GRANTS TO USD 469 | ||
New Preschool start-up costs |
$ 2,500.00 | |
District Luncheon - covering cost of classified staff meals |
$ 1,500.00 | |
Teacher of the Year/ Educational Support Professional of the Year Classroom Grants |
$ 1,000.00 |
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Coterie Classroom Immersions (Grades 1-12) |
$ 6,318.00 |
TOTAL GRANTS AWARDED FOR 2020-2021 SCHOOL YEAR: $46,062.59