Author: BEF Author

2020 Update and thank you from the bottom of Aloha High School Band for the BEF Band Together program that repairs and gets instruments to Beaverton students. Thank you to our supportive community and local partner Tigard Music for making this possible!

Last spring, COVID-19 paused everything. Slowly we found our way back to a new virtual and socially distanced normal. As summer arrived some of Beaverton’s students were in need of some addition help. Luckily Camp Achieve, a program focused on limiting summer slide, recently transitioned their reading and math curriculum to an online format becoming the perfect solution to support the increased needs of distance learners.

One of the hallmarks of previous years of Camp Achieve was library access and specific personalized teacher recommendations for student participants. While this was a bit different this year, teachers identified books specific to each Camp Achieve participants’ interests and reading levels, BEF began the search to buy books for the program. Given the urgent turnaround time, this was no easy feat – that’s when local literary mainstay, Powell’s Books, quite literally delivered on time.

Thanks to Powell’s, each Camp Achieve participant received five new books in the mail. Since the books were carefully selected for each participant, students had an instant interest in the material provided. Staff followed up with the students, encouraging regular dialogue and worked toward creating opportunities to grow their reading work into a literary habit. Ultimately, the books not only provided a connection to the outside world but something so much bigger, a love of reading. This work could not have been accomplished without Powell’s Books and is an example of the exponential impact that occurs when local resources stay in the community. When we work together, we can do so much more to build a better tomorrow.

We know that our schools will be 100% online for at least the first nine weeks of the school year, but Beaverton staff are still committed to providing hands-on learning opportunities for students. Donor support gives BEF the flexibility to respond to emerging and urgent needs and help grow new innovative ideas to better reach our students.

Recently, grants from the Juan Young Trust and Harvest Foundation supported Beaverton Band Together to repair more than 200 band instruments over the summer to be ready for students at the start of school, more than doubling the number of instruments repaired since the program began.

Our Building STEAM 4 All initiative continues to push for the integration of science, technology, engineering, arts and math through classroom projects and enrichment programs, thanks to support from First Tech Federal Credit Union, Intel, Genentech, and many local businesses.

BEF continues to work with our career technical educators to build out a pipeline for middle school students to discover educational alternatives. With support from PGE, Spirit Mountain Community Fund, U.S. Bank Foundation, Comcast, and the Wells Fargo Foundation, we are supporting hands-on learning from a distance, such as sending home construction and trades sampler kits so students can master introductory technical skills.

Programs like these would not be possible without the generous support of our hometown businesses and community. Contributions from local sources that remain in our community are critical to grow Beaverton’s economy now and strengthen our future.

When schools moved to distance learning last spring, BEF knew many of our teachers would create innovative ideas to make this new approach to education work better for their students. Thanks to our generous donors, BEF’s Learning Innovation Fund for Teachers and Students (LIFTS) began supporting these new ideas immediately including:

• Transitioning a Poet-in-Residence program online ensuring third graders at Raleigh Park could still experience learning to write and appreciate poetry. 
• Purchasing special instruments for a music teacher at Beaver Acres to send home with special education students to continue a movement and music class. 
• Supporting student-led initiatives such as Brainy Bags, delivering fun and educational toys purchased from a local business to 50 low-income families allowing students to have exciting things to do while they sheltered-in-place. 
• Working with educators to transition the Safe and Sound 4 School Success (S4) program into an online after-school club where academically at-risk middle schoolers could connect with peers and teachers.

BEF ramped up our back-to-school efforts to increase educational opportunity for all and worked to Connect, Equip and Engage our students and our frontline educators.

Through BEF’s powerful local network we were able to secure valuable resources to:

Connect households to WiFi hotspots thanks to raising $38,000 from Intel and others, ensuring kids can attend online classes and complete school work.

Equip students with Success Kits containing basic supplies needed for distance learning thanks to a community-based school supply drive and $35,000 from over 400 generous individuals.

Engage students and families by focusing on helping students and their caregivers navigate online learning platforms by build stronger connections with their school and teachers.

Projects funded to date:

• Beaver Acres Elementary School: Be What You See
• Highland Park Middle School: Navigating Distance Learning – Community Outreach
• Rock Creek Elementary: Rocket Readers
• Stoller Middle School: Mobile Canvas Caravan
• Vose, Terra Linda, Ridgewood and Fir Grove Elementary Schools: Camp Connect
• West Tualatin View Elementary: The Conscious Kid
• William Walker Elementary School: Books @ Home

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