IMPACT Newsletter - April 2024 |
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Check out the video below from the PPS Foundation President, Cindy Morris! |
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Join us for our 27th Annual Golf Outing on June 24th! |
With the Masters just recently finished, you or someone you know may be ready to hit the links again! How about playing in this year's PPSF Annual Golf Outing? This event is one of our largest fundraisers and always a lot of fun to participate in. Last year, the private dollars raised through this golf outing supported classroom grants, our Career Exploration programs, scholarships and so much more.
Sponsorships are so important to this event. We want to ensure that all funds raised can go directly to support our work with Peoria Public Schools. CLICK HERE to view more information on sponsorship pricing.
Ready to sign up your foursome? Click on the button below to register for the event. Feel free to contact Cindy Morris at cindy.morris@psd150.org with any questions!
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Thanks to our beverage sponsor Baumgarten Distributing and to Hy-Vee for their generous contribution to the swag bags. |
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Free Thank You Note Cards with a $50 Donation |
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Planning to write a message to someone special in your life? How about sending it in a thank you note card featuring artwork by our talented Peoria Public Schools students? By donating just $50, you will receive six of these cards along with envelopes. Click on the button below to donate today! |
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The Peoria Public Schools Foundation recently partnered with a Bradley University group to bring ideas to our students on ways to unplug. As part of their “Unplug to Uplift Campaign,” Elemental Media, a group of Bradley University seniors in their Public Relations capstone class, shared some tips and tricks regarding healthy social media usage and increasing in-person interaction for students. Meeting with the 8th grade Horizons Club students at Sterling Middle School, this group of BU seniors had a meeting packed with activities, including BU swag giveaways and a keynote presentation by Dr. Anna Viviani, Bradley University Department of Education, Counseling & Leadership Chair. Thank you to Elemental Media and Dr. Viviani for helping our students learn how to Unplug to Uplift.
If you would like to be a speaker, sharing your career story with PPS students, please contact Trish O'Shaughnessy at (309) 696-3406 or patricia.oshaughnessy@psd150.org.
We are also looking for career speakers to share with the students via MS Teams on the morning of Wednesday, May 1st. If you have some time, click on the button below to sign up or contact Trish for more information.
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Save the Date - Peoria Schoolhouse Open
September 14, 2024
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The new date for the Peoria Schoolhouse Open has been set for Saturday, September 14, 2024! More information to come in the summer. In the meantime, please visit the Peoria Schoolhouse Open Facebook page.
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Anytime Fitness Donates to Liberty Little Free Pantry and Little Free Library
Adopt-A-School partner Anytime Fitness has been busy raising funds for the Little Free Pantry and Little Free Library at Liberty Leadership Academy. Gym members of Anytime Fitness got in on the fun by "paying" to challenge Anytime Fitness trainers with burpees*. All the money raised was in support of the pantries at Liberty, accompanied with a presentation by Anytime Fitness COO Amber Parkinson to the 8th graders about why helping to promote food security was so important. So grateful for Anytime Fitness and all their supports of Peoria Public Schools.
If you are part of an organization that would like to get involved and become an Adopt-A -School partner, please email Trish O'Shaughnessy or call (309) 696-3406.
*A burpee is a squat thrust with a stand between repetitions. Variations of this exercise exist, including adding a push-up and/or jump.
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Dr. Nicole Couri-Malson
PPS Executive Director, Primary Education
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Thank you for taking the time to talk to us, Dr. Couri-Malson! Before we get into the 5 questions, can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
I love working for Peoria Public Schools! I was fortunate to begin my career student teaching at both Northmoor Primary and Tyng Primary School. I was quickly hired as a kindergarten teacher at Northmoor-Edison Primary School and absolutely loved every minute of teaching! I only taught for 3 years when I became Peoria's youngest principal at 26 years old. It was challenging early on, but became one of the most rewarding jobs I have ever had as the Principal of Northmoor-Edison. I served in that role for 9 years. During that time, Northmoor became a National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence, the highest honor a school can receive from the US Department of Education. In the Edison network of schools, Northmoor continued to win awards year after year in the area of Achievement and Customer Service for drastically closing the achievement gap. It continues to be one of the proudest accomplishments of my career.
Following that, I had the wonderful opportunity to work internationally for EdisonLearning as the Executive Director of Leadership, training school principals and leadership teams. I also led 360 diagnostic work on the islands of Hawaii. That experience was incredible for helping me to learn innovative ideas around the world that I use today here in Peoria.
Today I absolutely love my work in PPS as the Executive Director of Primary Education! This is my 6th year in this role and it fuels my spirit every day. We have seen incredible gains in the last couple of years and are really proud of the work that is being done to help set our students up for success! In this role I also work on our Leadership Development pipeline supporting our New Teacher Mentoring Program, our Rockford Partnership MA In Urban Education Program, our Aspiring Administrator Cohort, our New Principal Cohort, and our ongoing work with all of our school principals and assistant principals. What I love most about working for PPS is that I am inspired every day to be a part of an innovative team that is working hard to make decisions that will change the life trajectories for our students.
What’s your favorite thing about the Peoria area?
I love the diversity in Peoria and the way that this community pulls together to support our students and families. Every day my heart is touched by the countless stories I hear of goodwill of people throughout this entire city giving of their time and talents to support the students within our city. If there is a need, we can count on others to always step up and help.
What do you like to do on the weekends?
Most weekends I am busy attending my children's many sporting events. My daughter is a high school varsity cheerleader and my son is finishing 8th grade and is in Track, Cross Country and plays on the Fire Travel Soccer Team so we are on the go a lot! I also really enjoy cooking for my family. It is part of our Lebanese culture that I am proud to be a part of. I love to try new recipes and take a lot of pleasure in preparing food and bringing people together around the table. The weekends are our time to take a breath from the business of the week and just enjoy each other's company.
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If you could only have three apps on your smartphone, which ones would you pick?
Well this is a tough one! I would say that the apps I love the most are my photos app because my memories and moments I capture are so precious to me. I also love my Facebook app which keeps me connected to my family and friends around the world, and probably my Outlook app as I can have access to everything I need for work and life at all times, wherever I am at.
If you could snap your fingers and immediately learn to do anything, what would it be?
I would learn to run! I have always had a goal to participate in the St. Jude Marathon from Memphis to Peoria in memory of one of my students who had a tremendous impact on me. I however really struggle to be able to run with my asthma so I have never been very successful at it, but it is still a goal for me!
What was something you saw recently that made you smile?
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Thank you again for chatting with us today, Dr. Couri-Malson! We truly do appreciate your passion in supporting the PPS students!
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WE ALSO TAKE ONLINE DONATIONS!
Click the picture below to donate.
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Thank You to our Community Partners! |
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We'd like to give an especially big shout out this month to Hy-Vee in Sheridan Village and K2 Benefits for going above and beyond to further our mission to improve the quality of education in Peoria Public Schools! |
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PPS Foundation's Board of Directors:
Andre Allen, Beth Crider, Solivian Dismuke, Maarten de Haas, Alex Elger, Kim McGhee, Alyce Jackson, Cheryl Sanfilip, and Doug Shaw
Ex Officio Board Members:
Dr. Sharon Desmoulin-Kherat (PPS Superintendant) and Mike Murphy (PPS Board of Education)
PPS Foundation's Staff:
Cindy Morris - President
Jen Adler - Administrative Director
Allison Coulter - PPS Foundation Ambassador
Trish O'Shaughnessy - Director of Programs-Career & College Readiness and Adopt-a-School
Matt Violet - Data and Programming Logistics Coordinator
Annalee Anderson - Career Tech Advocate
Autumn Brown - Career Tech Advocate
Tessa Little - Career Tech Advocate
Cassie Robbins - Career Tech Advocate
Isabella Turner - Career Tech Advocate
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