Author: BEF Editor

Thanks to our generous donors Beaverton Education Foundation has awarded $61,987, funding 41 classroom projects for the 2021-22 academic year.

Help Scholls Heights Knights build community!

Scholls Heights Elementary School
Students Served: 599
Recipient: Betty Skundrick
Award: $1,010

Voice amplifiers are helping Scholls Heights students overcome hearing obstacles and build important community connections. Thanks to a successful Beaverton’s Choice project, students can clearly hear their entire class, while also adhering to COVID masking and distance protocols during circle time.

SCC Sensory Strategy Tools

Conestoga Middle School
Recipient: Cory Coleman
Award: $300

Conestoga Middle School students in the Social Communication Center are using small earplug devices to engage in learning activities with increased comfort and confidence. Thanks to a recent Beaverton’s Choice award, students can use these discreate devices to filter out ambient noise, helping neurodivergent students attend general education classes and engage in group work without interruptions caused by overwhelming sensory issues. 

Specialized Program Wellness Center!

Aloha High School
Students Served: 52
Recipient: Hilda Washburn
Award: $2,135

Funding provided by the Go Warriors! AHS Opportunity Fund and Aloha Booster Club PTO

Thanks to funds raised through Beaverton’s Choice, The Go Warriors! Aloha High School Endowment and Opportunity Fund and the Aloha Booster Club PTO, Hilda Washburn will transform her traditional classroom into a relaxed Wellness Center, equipped with sensory calming items students can use to access and regulate feelings. Hilda’s 50+ students have learning disabilities that make it difficult to manage big emotions – now they will finally have an environment that helps them be their best.

Future Authors!

Elmonica Elementary School
Students Served: 150
Recipient: Abigail Anderson, Matthew Brown, Alison Hower, Annie Lee, Megan Stauffer, Alicia Sypher and Anna Terrell-Maharg
Award: $756

Elmonica Elementary 4th and 5th grade students have increased opportunities to participate in writing thanks to a phenomenal new learning tool made possible by Beaverton’s Choice funding. Regardless of proficiency level, students can now create high-quality writing projects that they are proud of, which encourages them to write even more!

Help Support School Clubs at FLEX Online

FLEX Online School
Students Served: 250
Recipient: Sarah Langton
Award: $500

FLEX Online students have increased opportunities to socialize and create crucial peer and educator connections through virtualafter school clubs, thanks to Beaverton’s Choice funding. Clubs focus on identified student interests including baking, space, chess and poetry, with many more to come.

Art & Science, the perfect compliment

Five Oaks Middle School
Students Served: 930
Recipient: Wynter Jones
Award: $2,640

Five Oaks Middle School students will truly flourish thanks to generous Beaverton’s Choice donor support to provide equitable access to artistic opportunities for hands-on, creative experiences that complement the incredible science studies already taking place.

SHS Library Wellness Corner

Sunset High School
Students Served: 2000
Recipient: Colette Cassinelli
Award: $1,381

The Sunset High School library will be able to offer students an inviting and comforting space to recharge and relax amid pandemic pressures in their new Wellness Corner. Thanks to Beaverton’s Choice funds, the Wellness Corner will featuring a collection of specialized books and magazines, comfortable seating and headphones to add respite for their hard-working students.

Show Me How – AAC Modeling Devices

Special Education Classrooms
Students Served: 182
Recipient: Catherine Sementelli
Amount Awarded: $3,500

Funding provided by the Hoover Family Foundation.

Students with speech or language impairments can learn in real time now that educators across the District can model communication techniques on their own devices, thanks to Beaverton’s Choice donors and the Hoover Family Foundation. This is a game changer that allows for greater and faster communicative success and lets students retain their independence, since they no longer have to give their main source of communication to staff for instruction modeling.

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.

Students excitedly navigate robots through an obstacle course and discuss their latest coding project as another day in the STEAM Lab begins. Chatter starts to slow and the class is collectively mesmerized by a new 3D printer project coming to life. Then, like a flip of a switch, students are creating a list of dream projects they can make using a 3D printer.

All grades at Fir Grove Elementary School are growing their coding knowledge and having fun with technology, thanks to BEF’s crowdfunding platform, Beaverton’s Choice, and generous matching funds from Intel. Even the youngest learners are enjoying the ultimate in hands-on learning, as students interact with Sphero Bolt robots to complete increasingly more difficult coding challenges and watch 3D printer magic happen in front of their eyes.

“I LOVE how much energy there is in the Technology Lab now!” said Joyce Debusk, Fir Grove ESL teacher. 

The STEAM Lab, affectionately called the Look, Learn and Dream Center, is especially meaningful to Fir Grove’s Title 1 students because many will only have exposure to this inspiring technology at school. In class students can see first-hand how studies link to real-life, tangible outcomes that fit in the palm of their hand.

“Technology is now my child’s favorite class. She can’t wait to go each week and discover what new project they are working on,” added one parent. Learn more about Beaverton’s Choice today!

“Cantaninja,” one student loudly exclaims! 

He then executes three exuberant high kicks and shouts out the name of a popular Spanish song. Music quickly spills into Profe Shipley’s Spanish class and excited energy fills the air as students experience the sounds and culture of the language they are studying.
 

Using cantaninja as a brain break, the class continues to experience Spanish through different formats. Students hear popular and relevant examples of Spanish through real-life examples. This new curriculum, which creates stronger and more lasting connections than traditional textbooks, was made possible through BEF’s crowdfunding platform, Beaverton’s Choice. 

Shipley has seen her Whitford Middle School students’ Spanish skills and engagement steadily grow after incorporating the new curriculum. Even students who are hesitant to speak in class are joining in. 

“Many students have shared how much fun they are having in Spanish class,” explained Shipley, “Seeing them engaged and excited, while learning so much, is a deeply joyful experience.”

One student explained, “I didn’t think I was going to like Spanish, but this is really fun,” adding, “I’m really into music. Now I can understand a whole bunch more of it – because this brings my two favorite classes together.” 

Students aren’t the only ones with praise for the new approach to language studies. Parents are thanking Shipley for taking time to think of their kids, with one exclaiming, “Adam loves his Spanish class!”

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

Intel announced today that Beaverton Education Foundation will receive $50,000 from its 25 for 25 campaign, celebrating the 25th anniversary of its Ronler Acres site. 

More than 6,000 Intel employees participated in the selection process, raising $150,000 for four organizations that support education, food security and economic development in the communities surrounding Ronler Acres. Intel then decided to nearly double the employee pledges to a total of $300,000. Of that, BEF will receive $50,000.

“Intel and our employees have a long history of giving back to our local communities. As we celebrate Ronler Acres’ 25th anniversary, we also celebrate our longstanding commitment to those around us,” says Ann Kelleher, executive vice president and general manager of technology development at Intel Corporation. “We are part of our community, and it’s extremely important that we give back. We look forward to a promising future in Oregon and continued engagement with our community.” 

Beaverton Education Foundation is grateful to Intel for its partnership with us since our earliest days, and for this latest donation in honor of its 25 years as a backbone of the region. With Intel’s long-standing tradition of supporting BEF, we launched and expanded our Building STEAM 4 All programming, teaching students to think critically across subjects, while delivering valuable real-world skills. Intel has also been a long-time supporter of BEF’s Kids Count summer and after school programs, creating opportunities for thousands of students of all ages. 

“Intel’s trust in BEF inspires us,” says Kristine Baggett, BEF’s executive director, “and their investment enables us to continue working toward our mission to help students across all 54 Beaverton schools learn, thrive and reach their highest potential.”

Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math (STEAM) education provides students with tools to think critically across subjects, while delivering valuable real-world skills. That’s why BEF’s Building STEAM 4 All Initiative, backed by generous support from local businesses and foundations, helps teachers integrate STEAM into their classrooms and expand access for students who are underrepresented in the sciences: girls, low-income students and students of color. 

During summer and fall 2021, BEF made 11 Beaverton’s Choice awards to bring STEAM opportunities to more than 2,100 students across the District. Since Building STEAM 4 All launched in 2008, it’s funded programs in all Beaverton schools. These make an immediate impact on the educational experiences our students have, as well as inspire future career choices.

Highlights from the most recent Building STEAM 4 All awards:  

Arts and Communications Magnet Academy (ACMA) launched its first robotics team. This group of middle and high school students began designing, building and coding robots to compete against other teams. Together they are learning about business, fundraising and outreach, in addition to the coding, designing and engineering involved in getting ready to compete.

Building blocks are a low tech way to teach high tech skills. Through play and building with blocks, students gain practical knowledge around geometry, physics, planning and collaboration. At Kinnaman Elementary School, students have new Keva Planks to learn hands-on ways to make their ideas come alive. Students of all ages at Kinnaman now have additional experience planning, building, revising, innovating and collaborating.

Middle schoolers at Mountainview’s Tech Lab took what they were learning about making 3D models and digital manufacturing, and brought it to life in their classroom with a new 3D printer. These students not only applied what they were learning, they were introduced to different career options. 

Hiteon Elementary’s fifth graders have a new component of their daily math routine — a calendar program that’s engaging and exciting them as they learn. The program creates opportunities for discussions, problem solving, and short written exercises, all at the appropriate grade level. 

BEF is grateful to our many funders who are helping bring science, technology, engineering, arts and math into Beaverton schools this year, including First Tech Federal Credit Union, Genentech Foundation, Intel, New Seasons Market, NW Natural, PGE Foundation, Spirit Mountain Community Fund, U.S. Bank, Vernier Software & Technology, and Wells Fargo Foundation.

Visit Beaverton’s Choice to learn more about the latest STEAM-focused projects.