Category: Uncategorized

Thanks to our generous donors Beaverton Education Foundation has awarded $59,479, funding 34 classroom projects so far for the 2022-23 academic year.

Calming Skills for Success

Elmonica Elementary School
Students Served: 30
Recipient: Megan Stauffer
Award: $1,200

Funding provided in part by the Elmonica Elementary PTO

Elmonica Elementary 5th graders are taking full advantage of new music, coloring and drawing resources to self-regulate while at school thanks to our generous community’s support for Megan Stauffer’s recent Beaverton’s Choice project. Funding purchased valuable supplies and access to age-appropriate music, drawing and coloring apps that students identified were useful calming strategies.

Bring Coding to Life

Barnes Elementary School
Students Served: 261
Recipient: Megan Simpson
Award: $1,470

Funding provided in part by the BEF Building STEAM 4 All initiative 

Barnes Elementary 3rd, 4th and 5th grade students are growing their coding skills thanks to your support for enhanced computer resources, called Micro:bits. Next generation units enable even more learning opportunities and valuable practice using advanced language, cooperation, problem solving, flexibility and perseverance.

All Eyes on Learning

McKinley Elementary School
Students Served: 25
Recipient: Jessica Stephens
Award: $574

McKinley Elementary first graders are more involved with interactive writing thanks to your support for Jessica Stephens’ recent Beaverton’s Choice project, All Eyes on Learning. First graders learn well when they sit at the carpet and are close to educators teaching the lesson. The new easel brings short and sweet lessons closer to the students’ eye level, providing better access and increased engagement with lessons being taught.

Expand STEAM Learning for the Knights

Scholls Heights Elementary School
Students Served: 650
Recipient: Brianna Cristea
Award: $6,355

Funding provided in part by the BEF Building STEAM 4 All initiative and the Scholls Heights PTO

All 650 students at Scholls Heights Elementary have access to classroom iPads that will last for years to come. These devices open opportunities to begin typing practice, use Apple Classroom, record videos and conduct interviews for the school paper. Students can also explore filmmaking, use programs like Lego Education, Scratch Dot & Dash and Sphero.

Fidgets for Focus

Kinnaman Elementary School
Students Served: 491
Recipients: Cassandra Moore & Emma Allevato
Award: $800

More Kinnaman Elementary teachers have individual boxes of fidgets for their classroom, thanks to our community’s generosity. Fidgets provide students movement and stimulation that helps to focus, regulate emotions and be successful learners.

Cross Curricular Collaboration in 3D

International School of Beaverton (ISB)
Students Served: 162
Recipients: Ian Bricken, Tim Forgione, Alysoun Lowe & Shaphan Thomas 
Award: $2,487

Funding provided in part by the BEF Building STEAM 4 All initiative

ISB’s seventh grade English and Math classes are using 3D printing math lessons to create game pieces for their latest English assignment, thanks to funding for a 3D printer. Your generous support helps students combine disciplines to work on this hands-on project and will keep the collaboration going for years to come.

Unlock the Secrets of Sounds in the English Language!

William Walker Elementary School
Students Served: 280
Recipients: Rich Feely & Rosanne Freer
Award: $1,590

Funding provided in part by the Mike Osborne Memorial Award Fund. In recognition of the importance and need for academic excellence and opportunity for all students, the Mike Osborne Memorial Award Fund provides funds to support literacy-based Classroom Innovation Awards like this one.

William Walker’s youngest learners now have access to dedicated classroom materials that help students read in English. Our community’s generosity is helping students anchor their new literacy knowledge with the help of additional sets of Secret Story Flashcards, Tactile Letter Cards and Alphabet Sound Tubs. 

Support Sensory Bins for our Terra Linda Kinders!

Terra Linda Elementary School
Students Served: 35
Recipients: Sarah Gooding & Kelsey Kirkpatrick
Award: $2,000

Your generous support funded sensory bins filled with tools to help Terra Linda kindergarteners improve fine motor skills, calm busy minds and grow. Providing opportunities for children to actively use their senses as they explore their world through ‘sensory play’ is crucial to brain development and helps children as they make sense of the world around them.

Automation Exploration

Tumwater Middle School
Students Served: 180
Recipient: Ben Lloyd 
Award: $2,500

Funding provided in part by the BEF Building STEAM 4 All initiative

Tumwater Middle School can now offer an automation module to help 8th-grade students prepare for the future workplace, thanks to funding from their successful Beaverton’s Choice Project, Automation Exploration. The module teaches students to design automation that will approximate real-life career tasks and highlights the complexity of the ever-evolving future workplace. 

Amplify Meadow Park Technology Students Voice and Vision

Meadow Park Middle School
Students Served: 50
Recipients: Jim Gent & Annette Noratli
Award: $2,000

Funding provided in part by the BEF Building STEAM 4 All initiative

Meadow Park Middle School can transform their temporary audio and video production lab into a permanent space that students can use for years to come. Technology students will have access to dedicated monitors, microphones and teleprompter rigs that will also be shared with the Fine Arts department.

Spark Creativity with Flexible Library Seating

Sunset High School
Students Served: 2000
Recipient: Colette Cassinelli
Award: $165

The new collaborative and performance space at Sunset High School’s library will feature flexible seating options for students and staff who want to gather, collaborate and support each other. Thanks to our generous community, movable benches and chairs will better accommodate small group work, club meetings and open poetry mic sessions.

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.

As Beaverton Education Foundation celebrates our 35th anniversary, we recognize long-standing community partners like New Seasons Market. Since 2002, New Seasons has awarded more than $400,000 to BEF to help ensure all Beaverton students are inspired and prepared for bright futures. 

“BEF has been one of our foundation partners since we opened our first store, and it’s been such an incredible partner,” says Jennifer Gregorich, New Seasons’ community investment program supervisor. “We love to collaborate with our community partners and find ways to work together to better our community. Our Cedar Hills, Raleigh Hills, and Progress Ridge stores have each supported BEF through our various give-back programs.”  

New Seasons’ relationship with BEF first kicked off with New Seasons’ School Fruit campaign in 2002, when stores donated a portion of the profits from sales of a particular fruit — in this case,  d’anjou pears — to their neighborhood school’s foundation. Its Cans for Kids campaign came next in 2006, and continues today, with BEF receiving funds when customers donate their redeemable cans and bottles. When the Bag It Forward campaign started in 2016, BEF was one of the inaugural organizations customers supported by using their own reusable bags instead of paper ones. Over the years, New Seasons has also provided other grants and in-kind donations to BEF. 

“Equity is a core value of both New Seasons and BEF, which makes for a strong partnership. We support foundations rather than individual schools to ensure we reach as many public school children as possible,” says Jennifer. “We trust that BEF will distribute funds in an equitable way amongst all Beaverton schools and students.”

In addition to BEF’s commitment to equity, New Seasons appreciates BEF’s creative approach to finding solutions, adds Jennifer. The way the community engages with Beaverton’s Choice projects also caught its attention.  

“When we give back and collaborate with community members to give back, it makes our whole community stronger,” says Jennifer. “We’re very committed to our original foundation partners from when we first opened our stores, like BEF, and we are excited to continue that partnership.”

Beaverton Education Foundation thanks New Seasons Market and all our community partners for their generosity. Learn more about which local businesses and business leaders support BEF.

Thanks to our generous donors Beaverton Education Foundation has awarded $38,338, funding 23 classroom projects so far for the 2022-23 academic year.

Hit the right note with Ukuleles for AHS

Aloha High School
Students Served: 160
Recipient: Andrew Thompson
Award: $2,500

Funding provided in part by the BEF Band Together initiative, the Go Warriors! Opportunity Fund and the Aloha High School PTO/Booster Club

The priceless gift of music is available to more students in our community thanks to your support for a classroom set of ukuleles for the Music Studio Program at Aloha High School. Funding was made possible for instrument storage, stands, seating and eight “baritone” ukuleles, which are larger than typical ukuleles and easier to play for students with larger hands.

Make OBOB Possible at Whitford

Whitford Middle School
Students Served: 50
Recipient: Chris Miller
Award: $800

Funding provided in part by the Mike Osborne Memorial Award Fund. In recognition of the importance and need for academic excellence and opportunity for all students, the Mike Osborne Memorial Award Fund provides funds to support literacy-based Classroom Innovation Awards like this one.

Whitford Middle School will participate in the Oregon Battle of the Books (OBOB) contest, thanks to your support to purchase the required books in English and Spanish. Participation in the OBOB contest is a great way to help build enthusiasm for reading.

Reading Foundations in FLEX

FLEX Online School
Students Served: 19
Recipient: Paula Dell
Award: $663

Funding provided in part by the Mike Osborne Memorial Award Fund. In recognition of the importance and need for academic excellence and opportunity for all students, the Mike Osborne Memorial Award Fund provides funds to support literacy-based Classroom Innovation Awards like this one.

FLEX Online’s youngest learners are being introduced to reading in a way that goes beyond the screen. Book boxes offer virtual students an experience similar to their peers in physical classrooms, while also giving valuable hands-on resources to use during class and beyond. Our generous community’s support also funded access to assessment programs that aid in key reading interventions. 

Science Discovery Classroom

Aloha Huber Park K-8 School
Students Served: 65
Recipient: Kaydi Taylor
Award: $1,530

Funding provided in part by the BEF Building STEAM 4 All initiative 

Aloha Huber Park students can now be a part of eye-catching demonstrations and hands-on labs where they get to discover the STEAM concepts first hand. Funds from their Science Discovery Classroom project were used to purchase supplies to demonstrate thermal energy and so much more.

National Parks Non-Fiction Road Trip!

Montclair Elementary School
Students Served: 52
Recipient: Gabi Shirley, Lisa Sacconaghi & Kyle Piper Smyer
Award: $1,015

Thanks to your support, Montclair Elementary School students will experience a unique non-fiction reading unit based around a National Parks road trip of the Western United States. Funding from their recent Beaverton’s Choice project purchased maps, books, postcards and more that will expose students to new writing techniques, math, geography and earth science curriculum.

Build Engagement with Day of the Dead Project Supplies

Whitford Middle School
Students Served: 135
Recipient: Adela Vejo
Award: $250

Your support funded art and classroom supplies to help Whitford Middle School students envision, design and build their own ofrenda for Day of the Dead. Hands-on learning is a great way to increase student engagement and skill and Whitford now has glue sticks, tissue paper, scissors and much more that will be used for future classroom projects.

Sensory Supports for the Resource Room

Beaver Acres Elementary School
Students Served: 75
Recipients: Amy Rooney, Heidi Lindner & Molly Kershaw
Award: $350

Our community’s support will help Beaver Acres Elementary students learn to control their emotions, focus on tasks and calm themselves when feeling frustrated. Funds from the school’s recent Beaverton’s Choice project will fund sensory support items like sensory tubes, mindful mazes, bubble timers, sensory foam and bean bag chairs.

Journals for Thriving Third-Graders!

Bethany Elementary School
Students Served: 80
Recipient: Erin Gettling, Sara Schmitt & Amy Sheehan
Award: $1,400

Funding provided in part by the Bethany School PTO

All third graders at Bethany Elementary will build confidence, resilience and kindness with specially-designed, Big Life Journals thanks to your support. Using these journals, students will respond to daily prompts and complete activities that foster a growth mindset, resilience, confidence, gratitude and kindness.

New Books = Success for All at William Walker

William Walker Elementary School
Students Served: 580
Recipient: Rosanne Freer
Award: $3,900

Funding provided in part by The Anne Kelly Ofstun Tubby Fund values the importance and need for academic excellence and opportunity for all students and provides financial assistance to support projects like yours through its annual review process. The Ofstun Tubby family recognized the value of books in homes as a key component of student success. Congratulations on receiving this support from the community and this named fund administered by Beaverton Education Foundation.

Wow! Thanks to our generous community, William Walker Elementary hosted its first book fair in over a decade and it was a tremendous success. With donations from the Anne Kelly Ofstun Tubby Fund, the William Walker PTC and you, funding was available for each student to choose their own book, providing foundational learning tools at home for all. 

Create an Art Space for All the Raiders!

Highland Park Middle School
Students Served: 750
Recipient: Skylar Chapman
Award: $1,205

Funding provided in part by the BEF Building STEAM 4 All initiative 

Highland Park Middle School can offer its students a Maker Space dedicated to the exploration of their creativity through art thanks to our community’s support of their recent Beaverton’s Choice project. The new space will inspire young minds and be filled with looming products, various clays, sculpting tools, pens, markers, paints, paper, beads, sewing materials, light tables and so much more.

Comparative Anatomy

Conestoga Middle School
Students Served: 280
Recipient: Sean Weidert, Heather Neumeier & Jennifer Lakeman
Award: $1,815

Funding provided in part by the BEF Building STEAM 4 All initiative 

Your support is helping 270+ 8th graders at Conestoga Middle School examine similarities and differences between various organisms and understand how the body works with necessary lab materials. Students really enjoy hands-on projects and the lab work helps students experience a unique component of their evolution unit.

Motivating our Mountaineers!

Mountain View Middle School
Students Served: 930
Recipient: Ann Kennedy
Award: $1,200

Mountain View Middle School P.R.I.D.E. (Personal Responsibility, Respect, Integrity, Determination and Embracing Community) is soaring thanks to community support for high-interest items in the school’s Joy Center. Items will be used to acknowledge students’ hard work and positive behaviors and are one way Mountain View is building a positive community among staff and students after a hard year back from COVID.

Make Modern a Maker Space!

Whitford Middle School
Students Served: 900
Recipient: Tim Livingston & Kristen Wood
Award: $5,000

Funding provided in part by the BEF Building STEAM 4 All initiative 

Whitford Middle School’s updated Maker Space has come to life thanks to our generous community. Funds from their Beaverton’s Choice project will purchase new maker space items that will help students gain design and production skills through opportunities to create original 3D printed items, graphics for t-shirts and other apparel and experience with circuit boards and processors. 

Climbing to the Challenge

Errol Hassell Elementary
Students Served: 350
Recipient: Brent Van Volkinburg
Award: $3,529

Funding provided in part by the BEF PE + Play initiative and the Errol Hassell PTO

Thanks to your support, students at Errol Hassell Elementary now have the opportunity to use the school’s climbing ropes and cargo net safely. The funding of Brent Van Vokinburg’s recent Beaverton’s Choice project for safety mats will give students memorable climbing experiences and increased opportunities to develop muscular strength and endurance.

Connect, Inform + Prepare Fifth Graders with Weekly News

Bethany Elementary School
# of Students Served: 78
Recipient: Brad Stewart, Wendy Courogen & John Plunkett
Award: $2,684

Funding provided in part by the Bethany School PTO

Our community’s support will connect 5th grade students at Bethany Elementary to the world around them through individual subscriptions to The Week Junior. By introducing a steady flow of current events into our classroom, our students will be better informed and better prepared for the bigger conversations we hope to have around rights, responsibility and community.

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.

In the latest round of support for the Safe and Sound 4 Student Success Program (S4) last month, Beaverton Education Foundation awarded $30,000 to ten middle schools for after school programming that has a track record of increasing student engagement and academic success. Since BEF first piloted the program more than ten years ago, S4 has expanded across the district’s middle schools and now receives financial support from both the district and BEF.

“Core to BEF’s purpose is testing new ideas and then partnering with the district to take them to scale and ensure their longevity,” says Kristine Baggett, BEF’s executive director. “We’re thrilled to be a part of S4’s continued success and growth since we first began supporting it a decade ago. This year’s financial commitment from the district is the latest step in transitioning S4 to long-term district funding.”

S4 is often referred to as “the soccer program,” but it’s much more. In 2022-23, S4 will serve approximately 1,000 middle school students who are at-risk of becoming disconnected from school or are in need of additional academic support. The program provides accountability measures that motivate them to stay in school, and students are rewarded for participating in homework clubs — where they receive academic support in math, literacy, and writing — by playing on a soccer team or joining clubs like chess, culinary arts, drama, art, and rocket building.The program’s positive results are most obvious in increased school attendance, fewer disciplinary incidents, and greater community involvement. 

“Students gain a sense of belonging to our school through S4, and student leaders develop on the field,” says Kelly Smith, Highland Park Middle School’s school psychologist and soccer coach. “For many students, if not most, it’s their only chance to play a sport on a team. Being in our soccer club is truly an identity that connects kids to Highland Park.”

Five Oaks Middle School Assistant Principal Allyson Dubuque sees how S4 keeps students connected to school and increases their academic achievement in their core classes, especially when they can choose between soccer and a variety of clubs. “Middle school is such a pivotal time for students to discover who they are as a person and a learner. Our after school clubs offer positive environments for students. S4 improves their school attendance, skills, and agency in a post-pandemic school environment in joyful and healthy ways.” 

Support BEF’s Safe and Sound 4 Student Success Program (S4) today to ensure our after school programs continue to inspire middle school students to stay engaged and learn.

“I don’t read, I don’t need these,” one student remarked when he received new books designed to lessen the dreaded summer slide, when students can regress academically. But he changed his tune when he excitedly discovered Pokémon and car-themed books funded by BEF. Later in the day, he was already reading two of his new books.

This summer BEF helped elementary students close academic gaps caused by the pandemic and fight the summer slide. With help from two programs and a combined award of $87,000, 4,100 academically impacted students from all 34 elementary schools received take-home materials and summer experiences.

One parent noticed that something ‘clicked’ for her daughter when she began reading signs, packages and any and everything she could see. Her daughter’s confidence and reading skills soared thanks in part to the just-right books she received as part of BEF’s summer support.

And this fall, when William Walker Elementary hosted its first book fair in over a decade, we worked to ensure every student there received a new book of their choosing — something many could not afford on their own.

“We couldn’t have pulled this off without our generous community,” said Rosanne C. Freer, academic coach at William Walker. “Thank you for supporting our dreams and helping each child buy a book.”

For 35 years, donors like you have made it possible for BEF to bring innovative programs and classroom projects to Beaverton public schools, ensuring all of our 39,000 students have the opportunity to reach their highest potential. Beaverton teachers, families and students rely on BEF. But, we can only support programs like these — from literacy and STEAM to music and exercise, and more — with donors like you. Please consider a gift of $54, $1 in honor of each of the schools in the District, and help us continue to reach all of Beaverton’s students.