Zeeland Education Foundation Annual Update 2013-2014
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Annual Update 2013 - 2014 Board of Directors Tom DenHerder, President Sabina Otteman, Vice President Sam Vriezema, Treasurer Jackie Curtiss Sara Donkersloot Gary Feenstra Leslee Lewis Brandi Mendham Chris Pollack Jim Schoettle Sara Stevens Catherine Wasson Calvin De Kuiper Superintendent Wendy Rebhan Development Director Mary Beth Timmer Development Coordinator Upcoming Dates September 24, 2014 Conversations with Cal October 28, 2014 Fowl Play Dinner October - November 2014 Annual Fund Drive December 10, 2014 Conversations with Cal February/March 2015 District-wide Phone-a-thon March 11, 2015 Conversations with Cal March 31, 2015 Grant Application deadline May 2015 Grants awarded Grant Recipient Breakfast June 10, 2015 Conversations with Cal President’s Message e Zeeland Education Foundation originated in 2005 with a $10,000 founding giſt and one simple task: offset the funding gaps created by our state’s weakening economy. Developed with purpose, the Foundation set out to make quality education a lifetime giſt and enhance the academic offerings for the students and staff of Zeeland Public Schools. Since its inception, the Foundation has grown to nearly $668,000 with the bulk of investments held at the Commu- nity Foundation of Holland & Zeeland. While autonomous in organization, the Foundation holds a fiscal responsibility to the District and a dedication of service towards Zeeland Public Schools’ Board, administrators, teachers and students. We are honored to have provided over $177,000 in grants to the staff of Zeeland Public Schools to incorporate innovative ways of teaching and learning. Such funding includes a recent $18,000 giſt to the District to roll out the new Spanish Immersion program. We are a committed board. We see the future of the Foundation as an important financial avenue for Zeeland Public Schools and look forward to providing addi- tional opportunities in the years to come. As we grow, we hope you will grow with us. Your giſts make a difference at ZPS! Sincerely, Tom DenHerder, President visit us online at zeelandeducationfoundation.org Every day students with speaking difficulties, known as articulation delays, struggle within their class- rooms. ese students can be as young as three years old or as old as high school seniors. ose with significant impairments oſten have difficulty learning to read as they are unable to speak the letter sounds correctly to themselves. Many times they struggle to form friendships, are bullied and struggle with self-esteem issues. Traditional speech therapy is successful with most students but some, even with years of therapy and hard work continue to struggle with speech and language issues. Currently Zeeland Public Schools has over 300 students afflicted with speech and language disorders. e Zeeland Education Foundation awarded the speech staff a grant to fund the Complete Speech Smart Palate program. is is a new and innovative biofeedback device that allows student to see their Zeeland Education Foundation partners with local business to impact children with speech difficulties tongue movement on a computer screen and learn to adjust them to match a correct model thereby correcting the speech issues. Each student who is part of this program needs a specialized mouth piece that normally cost about $300 each. Zeeland Family Dentistry has partnered with us to make these for only $25 per student so they are affordable for all students involved. e students involved in the pilot for this program have shown amazing amounts of progress, in such a short amount of time. Results like these have never before been experienced by any speech-language pathologist with Zeeland Public Schools. In the process it also appears to boost student confi- dence. is was a wonderful unforeseen benefit. “Sound errors like these have been known to take two to three or more years to remediate. We found success aſter 20 sessions. Such success would not have been possible without this grant from the Zeeland Education Foundation and the partnership of local business- es” was the enthusiastic comment from one of the Zeeland speech teachers. Your donation to the Zeeland Education Foundation is making this possible!
Transcript of Zeeland Education Foundation Annual Update 2013-2014
Annual Update2013 - 2014
Board of Directors
Tom DenHerder, President
Sabina Otteman, Vice President
Sam Vriezema, Treasurer
Jackie Curtiss
Sara Donkersloot
Gary Feenstra
Leslee Lewis
Brandi Mendham
Chris Pollack
Jim Schoettle
Sara Stevens
Catherine Wasson
Calvin De Kuiper
Superintendent
Wendy RebhanDevelopment Director
Mary Beth Timmer
Development Coordinator
Upcoming Dates
September 24, 2014
Conversations with Cal
October 28, 2014
Fowl Play Dinner
October - November 2014
Annual Fund Drive
December 10, 2014
Conversations with Cal
February/March 2015
District-wide Phone-a-thon
March 11, 2015
Conversations with Cal
March 31, 2015
Grant Application deadline
May 2015
Grants awarded
Grant Recipient Breakfast
June 10, 2015
Conversations with Cal
President’s Message
The Zeeland Education Foundation originated in 2005 with a $10,000 founding gift and one simple task: offset the funding gaps created by our state’s weakening economy.
Developed with purpose, the Foundation set out to make quality education a lifetime gift and enhance the academic offerings for the students and staff of Zeeland Public Schools.
Since its inception, the Foundation has grown to nearly $668,000 with the bulk of investments held at the Commu-nity Foundation of Holland & Zeeland. While autonomous in organization, the Foundation holds a fiscal responsibility to the District and a dedication of service towards Zeeland Public Schools’ Board, administrators, teachers and students.
We are honored to have provided over $177,000 in grants to the staff of Zeeland Public Schools to incorporate innovative ways of teaching and learning. Such funding includes a recent $18,000 gift to the District to roll out the new Spanish Immersion program.
We are a committed board. We see the future of the Foundation as an important financial avenue for Zeeland Public Schools and look forward to providing addi-tional opportunities in the years to come. As we grow, we hope you will grow with us. Your gifts make a difference at ZPS!
Sincerely,
Tom DenHerder, President
visit us online at zeelandeducationfoundation.org
Every day students with speaking difficulties, known as articulation delays, struggle within their class-rooms. These students can be as young as three years old or as old as high school seniors. Those with significant impairments often have difficulty learning to read as they are unable to speak the letter sounds correctly to themselves. Many
times they struggle to form friendships, are bullied and struggle with self-esteem issues. Traditional speech therapy is successful with most students but some, even with years of therapy and hard work continue to struggle with speech and language issues. Currently Zeeland Public Schools has over 300 students afflicted with speech and language disorders.
The Zeeland Education Foundation awarded the speech staff a grant to fund the Complete Speech Smart Palate program. This is a new and innovative biofeedback device that allows student to see their
Zeeland Education Foundation partners with local business to impact children with speech difficulties
tongue movement on a computer screen and learn to adjust them to match a correct model thereby correcting the speech issues.
Each student who is part of this program needs a specialized mouth piece that normally cost about $300 each. Zeeland Family Dentistry has partnered with us to make these for only $25 per student so they are affordable for all students involved. The students involved in the pilot for this program have shown amazing amounts of progress, in such a short amount of time. Results like these have never before been experienced by any speech-language pathologist with Zeeland Public Schools. In the process it also appears to boost student confi-dence. This was a wonderful unforeseen benefit.
“Sound errors like these have been known to take two to three or more years to remediate. We found success after 20 sessions. Such success would not have been possible without this grant from the Zeeland Education Foundation and the partnership of local business-es” was the enthusiastic comment from one of the Zeeland speech teachers.
Your donation to the Zeeland Education Foundation is making this possible!
Annual Update2013 - 2014
Grants, Programs and Project Support Awarded
Grant Awarded – Spring 2014 Requestor/School Amount
Lego table Sherry Schrotenboer/Quincy $500Duplos Legos for creative play, fine motor development, math lessons, and social studies units.
Apple TV Special Ed Team/New Groningen $956Maximize the use of iPads, develop a deeper understanding of the curriculum and create an engaging learning environment.
3D Printer Marnie Assink/ Zeeland East HS $3,100Technology that will turn a digital file into a 3D product; this turns passive consumers into active creators.
Sensory Integration Therapy room Angela Lloyd & Megan Holman/New Groningen $1,604Offers sensory integration activities to assist with regulating behaviors in order to improve classroom performance.
Bilingual Leveled Books Emily DeKock/New Groningen $1,000 These books will be used to show value for a student’s first language, teach English, and teach grade level content.
Electric Instruments Marie TenElshof/Middle and High Schools $1,550These will increase student engagement in orchestra, enhance performances and extra-curricular music events.
Ukuleles Jennifer Russell/Quincy & New Groningen $1,410These will be used to create a powerful learning experience for elementary 3rd-5th graders.
Flexible classroom environment Pete Goers/Quincy $675Will allow the classroom to move away from the lecture based teaching model to a project focused curriculum delivery.
Interactive Wacom tablets Debra Kemppainen/Zeeland West HS $2,250These tablets are an intuitive multi-touch tool for students to learn and create with precision and control.
Non-fiction Just Right Library Amy Zuidema/Adams $950These will be used both at home and at school to practice comprehension strategies and vocabulary development.
Classroom audio system Jill VanEck/Woodbridge $720This will provide students with enhanced speech recognition and a much-improved learning opportunity.
Therapeutic tools for fine motor Jennifer Meyering/New Groningen $1,315Children of varying abilities will be able to develop skills to become successful across the curriculum.
Ukuleles Ruby Bowden/Woodbridge $1,410These will be used to give students an enriching and hands on musical experience.
Flexible classroom environment Jessica Kiwiet/Cityside MS $2,465This will allow young people the opportunity to learn more than just course content; they will become effective communicators and collaborators.
Program/Project Support - 2013-2014
Spanish Immersion $18,000
Speech Palate $2,000
Smart Board for Elementary Special Education $3,400
Annual Update2013 - 2014
New technologies can have a huge impact on students with spe-cial needs. The tools available offer many differentiated learning styles to positively impact students with many different limita-tions. One of the current technologies is called a SMART board which allows students to have interactive educational experiences. Zeeland AMBUCS partnered with the Education Foundation to purchase a SMART board for Laura Wilson’s special needs class at Roosevelt Elementary and the students have been using this tool extensively. They now have a large visual learning tool that gives them instant access to information and allows them to manipu-late the information right on the screen with a simple touch of their finger. The SMART allows the teacher to present lessons in a way that is stimulating and easy for the sudents to understand. This technology has ignited an excitement around learning and doing in Mrs. Wilson’s classroom.
Zeeland Public Schools is very excited to offer Spanish Immersion to our Kindergarten, first and second grade students, along with high school freshman. Like any other new program Zeeland offers, Spanish Immersion has been well planned and well thought out. The Zeeland Education Foundation partnered with the school district to bring add.a.lingua consulting firm in on this project. Add.a.lingua provided ZPS with a solid base of knowledge and basic skills and curriculum ideas to build off of. By working with this firm the ZPS Spanish Im-mersion program will kick off in the fall of 2014. A well thought out, well organized program with a solid curriculum that meets all state and district standards and provides students with an exciting and engaging learning experience.
Zeeland Education Foundation partners with the AMBUCS to support Special Education Spanish Immersion coming to Zeeland Public Schools
This past May the Zeeland Education Foundation hosted a breakfast to recognize ZPS staff members that received grants during the 2014 grant cycle. Grantees were commended for their creativity and inno-vative ideas to enhance the learning of Zeeland Public School students. A total of $19,905 was given to 15 teachers.
Grantee Recognition Breakfast – May 14, 2014
This past year has been an exciting one for the Foundation!
• We started with changing our logo to be consistent and produced marketing materials to make ourselves identifiable in the district for the present and the future.
• We updated our website and produced a video for marketing our-selves to the district community.
• We sent out an annual solicitation with our new brochure outlining our mission and purpose. From this we received nearly $18,000 in gifts and pledges!
• In the early March, we had our annual phonation with ambitions to grow this in the future to reach more of our district’s families.
• This spring, after our grants were awarded, we honored the grant recipients with a breakfast to celebrate their awards.
• Over the summer we are installing a display case in each of the district’s buildings to showcase all the “grants in action” in the respective building.
• And this fall we will be hosting our first annual fundraiser, Fowl Play Dinner, to help us achieve further support for Zeeland Public Schools.
We are excited about the future and look forward to your support in joining us as we continue to promote the educational opportunities at Zeeland Public Schools!
Wendy RebhanDevelopment DirectorZeeland Education Foundation
Development Director Update.... Wendy Rebhan
Individual DonorsMichael and Tina AmesMelissa BaynLarry and Dianne BekiusCorwyn B. BergesmaKathy BoerigterLyle BoermanChristy BoeveStan and Janet BoyerKrystal BulthuisMr. and Mrs. BunceMichael and Wendy CheekColbrunn FamilyBrandan and Nicole CompagnerShawn and Steve CompagnerBrent and Kim ConverseKyle and Jackie CurtissLaurie CusterMike and Sue DalmanJoel DavelaarGregory and Karen DeinesCal and Beth DeKuiperTom and Sue Den HerderRick DernbergerJohn DeWittMarlies DeWittNeal and Gina DobbinJim and Sara DonkerslootGary and Stacey DozemanChuck and Sue DrnekMarilyn Elhart Mary and Bill ElhartGary and Diane FeenstraDean and Jodi FerrellGeenen Family FoundationAaron GoodJarold GrotersMr. and Mrs. Scott GuernseyChris and Christy GuffeyTim and Erica HamiltonKatherine HammondKenneth and Berniece Harper
Thomas HarsevoortTimothy and Julie HaskinJack HeuvelhorstBenjamin and Sarah HondorpTodd and Peg HousengaDawn and Doug HuizengaFord and Christine KalinowskiDan and Mieke KenderChad and Nikki KleinhekselConrad and Barb KleinhekselAndrew and Leslee LewisAudrey LoseyBill MacDonald Christy McGeehanGabriella Cintora MendezClarence and Mary MerrillJack MillerScott and Shari MoorePierce NealSabina and Andy OttemanShelly and Dave PohankaChris and Becky PollackTom and Pat PostmaGordon RaterinkDanny RebhanKevin and Wendy RebhanMichelle RobinsonKirk and Kelly RoedelChad and Kim RoetmanAve and Kristen RoordaKevin and Kim RosenauDavid RoushJim and Janet SchoettleGary and Phyllis ScholtenCharles and Amy SchoumanDavid and Linda ShawBrad and Carol SlaghDawn SmithTirsha SnoblenAnn SomeroRick and Suzette StaalCraig and Sara Stevens
Dave and Mary Beth Timmer Aubrey UttingRick and Mary VanDer MeulenDick and Pam VanDorpDavid and Barb VanGinhovenKurt Van KoeveringMr. and Mrs. Richard VanOssMarc VanSoestMitch and Deb VeldheerJon VossSam and Kathy VriezemaCatherine WassonJulie WorkingRick and Carol Zuverink
Business DonorsBJW Berghorst & SonsGDK Construction Co.Gentex CorporationGMB Architecture & EngineeringEngelsman GreenhouseExit 76 Corp.Haworth Inc.Shoreline Sprinkling Inc.Town and Country GroupVander Meulen’s Fine Furnishers Inc.Western Michigan Fleet PartsWest Michigan HockeyZeeland Ambucs
We would like to thank the following donors to the Zeeland Education Foundation during the 2013-2014 years. Your gifts have contributed to the academic excellence at Zeeland Public Schools and have provided extraordinary learning opportunities!
Donors make a direct impact to our district ~ Thank you.
Above: students at ZWHS enjoy the new 3D printer - a recent gift from the Zeeland Education Foundation.
