Author: BEF Editor

Class begins with a blast of excitement as hands wave in the air. Helen Chandler’s class anxiously awaits who will be called on to add a new marker to the Math Calendar and deliver the prompt that will guide the morning math discussions and activities.

Hiteon Elementary fifth graders greet each day ready to engage in math, thanks to calendar-based lessons, activities and materials made possible through their successful Beaverton’s Choice crowdfunding project, Monthly Math Magic. Not only is this a great start to the day, but students are ready to participate when it’s time to learn core math lessons.

The calendar resource is a unique way to review and re-learn past concepts, while still creating time for the regular fifth-grade math work. The best part, student response has far exceeded the fifth-grade team’s expectations. 

“This was an amazing experience,” says fifth grade teacher, Helen Chandler. “I still can’t believe I get to share this resource with my team and watch students enjoy and engage in it every day!”

Learn more about all the great projects seeking funding on Beaverton’s Choice.

Thanks to our generous donors Beaverton Education Foundation has awarded $71,649, funding 48 classroom projects for the 2021-22 academic year.

Math Buzzers

Whitford Middle School
Students Served: 900
Recipients: Melissa Arguello, Kerensa Brougham, Chad Carnes, Anne Connor, Andrea Cruz-Solis, Andy Gagnier, Lindsay Laing, Sandra Miller and Travis
Rooke-Ley
Award: $590

Funding provided by BEF Building STEAM 4 All

Whitford Middle School math students are building math stamina and foundational skills thanks to Lindsay Laing’s Beaverton’s Choice project to integrate Math Olympiad-style games into the classroom.

Creating Designers with D&D Dice

Tumwater Middle School
Students Served: 35
Recipient: Rob Hillhouse
Award: $1,000

Funding provided by BEF Building STEAM 4 All

Tumwater Middle School’s D&D club members are becoming heroes, solving problems, working together and calculating quick math, all without screens.Thanks to Beaverton’s Choice donors, students are engaged in hands-on experience – designing and producing their own D&D gaming dice. This fun activity helps students learn a craft and engage in practical science, while also providing a sense of ownership and pride.

A Pug Mill: It’s for Clay!

Cedar Park Middle School
Students Served: 650
Recipient: Anthony Burton
Award: $3,400

Funding provided by BEF Building STEAM 4 All and Cedar Park PTC

Every Cedar Park Middle School student will get to enjoy high-quality, sustainable clay thanks to funds raised through Beaverton’s Choice. Using their new pug mill, Art Educators can give students clay that is the correct consistency and air free, important to ensure creations don’t explode in the kiln.

If they can build it, they will learn!

Beaver Acres Elementary School
Students Served: 22
Recipient: Amy Molony
Award: $331

Beaver Acres Elementary students have the materials they need to be the next generation of problem-solvers and change-makers thanks to Beaverton’s Choice funding. These simple items inspire young learners to build, collaborate and create – and help our students get back into the swing of this unique year.

Enhancing Recess Through Lacrosse

Beaver Acres Elementary School
Students Served: 700
Recipient: Andrew Ratzke
Award: $360

Beaver Acres students are prepared for more success on the playground and in their classrooms thanks to Beaverton’s Choice funding for structured recess activities, like lacrosse. With your community’s support, students have the opportunity to learn new physical and social emotional skills at recess and have more fun!

All about that bass!

Aloha High School
Students Served: 120
Recipient: Andrew Thompson
Award: $2,600

Funding provided by the Go Warriors! Aloha High School Opportunity Funds

Thanks to funds raised through Beaverton’s Choice and Go Warriors! Aloha High School Opportunity Funds, every student in Aloha High School’s Instrumental Music Studio has access to a bass instrument in class – providing a more engaging and positive experience for all.

Thanks to your generous contributions, the dollars raised are enabling enrichment programs in Beaverton schools that otherwise would not be possible. For current programs, and to begin your application, please visit Beaverton’s Choice, Beaverton Education Foundation’s online resource that brings community and classrooms together.

Physical activity, including PE classes in school, is critical to a healthy lifestyle and a well-rounded education. When kids play, they learn not only coordination and balance, but also teamwork and interpersonal skills — a special mix that leads to academic success and healthy habits that last a lifetime. 

Our students need to recover from so many sedentary months during the pandemic, yet many Beaverton schools lack the exercise equipment needed to get all kids up and moving during PE, recess and after school activities. 

Beaverton Education Foundation’s new PE + Play Impact Fund is a multifaceted approach to getting our students back on track with exercise and healthy habits. BEF will provide PE equipment to all Beaverton schools so students will have access to the tools they need to meet their physical learning goals. A phased approach kicks off this spring by targeting 7,600 students at 17 elementary and middle schools; additional schools, including high schools, will be served in the coming months. 

BEF is working closely with the District’s PE Teachers on Special Assignment (TOSAs) to identify and fill gaps in funding and equipment. The TOSAs described how PE class sizes are larger than before the pandemic and how that makes equipment scarce. COVID concerns make it harder to share supplies among students. PE teachers also see how 15 months of distance and hybrid learning left students far less active than normal, with a negative impact on their mental health and physical fitness. 

“BEF is in a unique position to help Beaverton students, especially low-income students, rebound from some of the negative effects of the pandemic,” says Kristine Baggett, BEF’s executive director. “There’s a real need in our schools, and we can make our teachers’ and students’ lives easier and healthier, now and into the future.”

The first effort this spring — to secure new PE equipment for Beaverton Academy of Science and Engineering (BASE) — began earlier this month and will be funded by BEF and community donations through a Beaverton’s Choice campaign. BASE administrators say that basic items such as soft toss footballs, badminton nets, frisbees, goals and soccer balls will go a long way to create the foundation for collaborative team building activities that are necessary to facilitate large PE classes with more than 40 students. 

The next phase, the PE + Play Impact Fund, launches today to support PE needs at 14 elementary schools and three middle schools that serve large populations of low-income students. Your support is needed so students can be even more physically active this spring. 

Additional programs will be announced in the coming months to reach more students across Beaverton schools. 

By supporting BEF’s PE + Play Impact Fund, you can help every Beaverton student create life-long healthy habits and prepare for their brightest future.

Spirit Mountain Community Fund (SMCF) grants make it possible to expand valuable opportunities to all students in all Beaverton’s schools. Thanks to their support, Beaverton Education Foundation (BEF) has been able to take promising new ideas that serve a single school or classroom and bring them to scale as successful BEF cornerstone programs that reach thousands of students throughout the Beaverton School District.

“We are thankful for our incredible partnership with Spirit Mountain Community Fund,” says Kristine Baggett, BEF’s executive director. “From STEAM and trades-focused initiatives to extended day and summer programs, SMCF’s commitment to our schools is pivotal in ensuring equitable, high-quality solutions to all students throughout the District.”

SMCF’s generosity makes an impact:

• An early grant from SMCF was the catalyst for Camp Achieve’s unparalleled growth. BEF’s enrichment program for elementary school students focuses on improving reading and math skills over summer break. The program began as a pilot at one school and last year, Camp Achieve was offered at all 34 Beaverton elementary schools, serving nearly 2,300 students. 

• Similarly, SMCF’s support for BEF’s Safe and Sound 4 School Success (S4) after school academics and athletics program helped it grow from an informal program at four middle school into a scalable program delivering improved student attendance and classroom performance to participants at 10 District middle schools. S4 even operated, though scaled back, during distance and hybrid learning, continuing to offer opportunities for students to connect with teachers and peers around common interests.

• Since its launch in 2008, Building STEAM 4 All has provided support and focus on the integration of science, technology, engineering, arts and math into Beaverton schools. Thanks to key SMCF funding, the initiative has brought STEAM opportunities to thousands of students each year.

• In the last two years, support from SMCF helped catapult BEF’s Middle School Trades Exploration pilot program into a tremendous success — engaging 140 students from middle schools throughout the District with construction industry-specific occupational skills training throughout the academic year. Initially a summer offering, the program originally served 30 students from three middle schools.

Spirit Mountain Community Fund leadership says now is a critical time to continue to work together to support our most vulnerable communities. “We are thankful and grateful to our nonprofit partners, like Beaverton Education Foundation, who work tirelessly to provide pivotal services for children and families during this very challenging time,” they say.

“Funders like Spirit Mountain Community Fund give BEF the power to grow innovative projects and pilot programs into sustainable initiatives that truly soar,” says Baggett. “It is thanks to their support that we can prepare our students, and the entire Beaverton community, for the brightest future possible.”

Beaverton Education Foundation wants all kids to thrive and prepare for a bright future, which is one reason why we have expanded opportunities for students to learn about careers in the trades. BEF partners with the Beaverton School District to expand awareness of career technical tracks available in high school, focusing on giving middle school students a chance to try out various trades such as construction and auto tech.

“I work with a lot of students who have difficulty seeing a clear path between their academic experience and what’s going to happen to them after school,” says Janine Weir, who leads the District’s high school success coordination and development efforts. “If you show them options and let them try out the trades like construction and auto tech, it can open their eyes to new options and set them on a path toward better paying jobs that don’t require a four-year college degree.” 

Helping students see how school can prepare them to go on to careers in high paying fields can increase the meaning and relevance of school and help reduce dropout rates. At the same time, industry partners are clamoring for new graduates who are ready to enter the skilled labor force, which helps bolster the regional economy.

With this in mind, in summer 2019 BEF kicked off a partnership with the District when 30 students joined the Middle School Trades Exploration Pilot Program. The students mastered design, demolition, drywall, carpentry and concrete work, all while team building and repairing and beautifying a concrete curb area at the District’s central office. 

By the end of the summer, they learned equipment safety, industry safety procedures, construction math skills, basic drafting, design and building techniques. They were also more excited about both school and the possibilities of a career in the trades. 

“When the students came in, they were shy and unsure, but curious,” says Jonathan Hauben, the career and technical education (CTE) construction technology teacher at Community School at Merlo Station, who taught the 2019 summer program. “Then they got in the groove and thought, ‘We can do this!’ I could see that spark of enlightenment on their faces. Seeing a project through to completion is very satisfying for them.”

During remote learning in early 2021, BEF worked with dedicated teachers and staff to deliver woodworking kits to middle schoolers for an at-home, hands-on learning experience. The kits contained all the tools and supplies needed to complete three beginning woodworking projects. When they returned for hybrid learning that spring, they completed more complex projects in the classroom.

Now that students are back in-person full time, BEF is supporting a year-long program in which 140 middle school students receive construction industry-specific occupational skills training. They attend special “pull out” sessions at the Merlo High School Construction Tech Lab where lessons and hands-on skill practice give them a comprehensive understanding of several trades. They also visit the Auto Tech lab at Aloha High School. 

“Without BEF’s support, we wouldn’t be able to focus on this pipeline from middle school to high school to careers,” says Weir. “It’s the only funding we have that gives us the freedom to pursue this programming to start connecting with middle school students early so we can continue those conversations about the trades and careers through high school.” 

The Trades Exploration program was made possible by the Spirit Mountain Community Fund. Additional support has come from Intel, Genentech, Portland General Electric, New Seasons Market, U.S. Bank, Comcast, INLINE Commercial Construction, Parr Lumber-Raleigh Hills, Oh Planning + Design and Key Event Services. 

You can support BEF’s trades exploration programming and ensure every Beaverton student is inspired and prepared for their brightest future by becoming a monthly donor today.