News from Gloucester Education Foundation 🍎

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Dear Friends,

This month we're giving thanks for you, our wonderful community of friends, supporters, partners and volunteers.

Thanks to all who have given to our School Response Fund in recent months. Below you'll see the creative and exciting projects that are happening right now in Gloucester's schools because of you.

Thank you to the teachers, principals and administrators who have tackled the challenges of this school year head-on and found ways to inspire and support our students every day, whether in-person or on screen. We know you are working so hard. You are appreciated.

Thank you to our partners and funders. Your steadfast support of GEF and our schools is more important now than ever during this challenging year.

We are grateful for the opportunity that your support provides to continue driving innovation, encouraging creativity, expanding opportunities and empowering teachers in our schools, now and always.

With Gratitude,

Aria McElhenny

Executive Director

GEF School Response Fund Current Projects

Bringing Science Labwork into the Home

At Gloucester High School, teacher Carol Cafasso will implement two online experiential learning solutions for GHS core science classes, which include Biology, Chemistry and Physics. These will enable students to do lab based science at home using real data in their experiments.

Web-based Phonics tools for Elementary Students

At Veterans and Plum Cove, the K-3 teachers are using Whizzimo, a web based application that is compatible with web meeting programs like Zoom and provides digital letter tiles, word cards, phrases, sentences, and interactive, multi-sensory practice opportunities that students and teachers can use in the remote setting as well as in the classroom.

Building Community through the Mail

Teachers at the elementary remote academy will build community and enhance communication with their students through good old fashioned snail mail. Teachers will send special projects, books and one on one communication to their students to develop connections with them that go beyond the virtual classroom.

Technology for Gloucester High Music Department

Led by Gloucester High School teacher Dan Fleury, this project will enable student music ensembles to pursue their studies during remote and hybrid learning by providing the equipment necessary to create high quality recordings. This will make GHS music more widely available to the community through youtube and social media, with the hope of inspiring younger students to pursue music studies in the future.

Ukeleles for Beeman Elementary Students

Teacher Emily Prestigiovanni will implement a hands-on curriculum using Ukuleles. Elementary band and recorder studies have both been paused by the pandemic, but ukuleles are a safe way to offer instrument instruction to students and help build a foundation for future instrument studies when students move on to middle school.

Desks for All

O'Maley Innovation Middle School School Social Worker Dan Graham has partnered with a group of O'Maley teachers to provide custom-built desks for students. Many students don't have adequate space at home to do their remote learning work, and so teachers and volunteers will construct and deliver small, lightweight desks to any student in the school district who needs one to help boost their remote learning success.

Digital Theatre at Gloucester High

Under the guidance of teacher Jessica Kirk, the GHS Theatre Program will delve into the digital sphere as a way to safely film, edit, and share productions of plays and musicals during the pandemic while live theatre is still inaccessible. New recording equipment "kits" will enable students to record themselves performing and collaborate remotely with their peers to produce online productions.

West Parish Fifth Grade Play

As part of GEF’s ongoing commitment to funding theater programs in every elementary school, this year the West Parish 5th graders will write and create a video recording of their original play, then edit it into a final version to be released online to the community, with help from Heidi Dallin of Gloucester Stage Company.

Additional Recently Funded Projects

Virtual Advanced Placement (AP) Summer Prep Classes

This enabled students to get a head start on their classwork before the school year and helped prepare them for the AP exam in the Spring.

Art for Equity

Art for Equity is a community art project led by GHS student Mila Barry to raise awareness around issues of diversity, equity and inclusion through art. The project will harness student's creative talent to help raise funds to diversify book shelves at Gloucester's school libraries and classrooms. Read more about this project in the Gloucester Times and on the project website Art for Equity

O'Maley Science Center

Led by Amy Donnelly and David Brown, this project will build on the foundation of lab-based hands on learning that already exists in the O’Maley STEM labs by consolidating the labs into one wing of the school, and bringing on a part-time resident scientist to coordinate work in the labs and help the students use professional grade equipment. The new science center will also streamline school traffic flow to better comply with covid safety guidelines.

Thank you Lyon Waugh Auto Group

This month Gloucester Education Foundation received the second installment of a 3 year, $150,000 pledge from Warren Waugh and Lyon-Waugh Auto Group. This generous gift supports Gloucester High School's automotive vocational program with an additional automotive teacher, state-of-the-art equipment, vehicles and access to dealership service departments.

Thank you Cape Ann Savings Bank

Cape Ann Savings Bank has generously donated $60,000 to our endowment and program funds. We are deeply grateful for CASB's ongoing partnership and long term commitment to supporting our schools.