Issaquah Schools Foundation Announces Recipients of Kateri Brow Big Idea Grants

Issaquah, Wash. – May 17, 2018: The Issaquah Schools Foundation is proud to announce the recipients of its Kateri Brow Big Idea Grants for programs that respond to a compelling need and reflect vision and innovation in education. The 2018 grant recipients include programs at Discovery and Maple Hills elementary schools; Maywood Middle School; Echo Glen School; and Liberty, Skyline and Gibson Ek high schools. Named for a past superintendent of the Issaquah School District, the grants are up to $10,000. Thanks to the generosity of donors, the Foundation awarded more than $55,000 for Kateri Brow grants this year.

Kateri Brow grant recipients range from an after-school math club and horticulture program, to CS/STEM explorations and the expansion of the Patriot Café program, to equipment for physics classes. For example, one Kateri Brow grant will support the purchase of ripple tanks for physics classes at Skyline High School in Sammamish. The tanks are a fundamental tool for studying two-dimensional wave behavior, which is otherwise difficult to investigate interactively. The number of students taking physics at all levels has increased year after year, resulting in the need for more tanks.

Each year, Foundation-funded programs including Kateri Brow grant impact more than 21,000 students in the growing Issaquah School District, benefitting schools across the cities of Issaquah, Sammamish, Renton, Bellevue and Newcastle.

2018 Issaquah Schools Foundation Kateri Brow Grant Recipients

It's All Fun and Games Until Someone Divides by Zero
Maywood Middle School, Renton
Lead: Eileen Rubenstein, Parent
Benefits 40 students
This grant supports up to 40 middle school students in an after-school math club, allowing them to attend six different math competitions. The math club stokes their enthusiasm in math while building upon the competencies they learn in the classroom.

Healthy Living Through Horticulture
Echo Glen School, Snoqualmie
Leads: Tom Fields, Teacher, and Bonnie Gudaitias, Volunteer
Benefits 115 students
This grant expands the Echo Glen horticulture program, allowing more students to learn about healthy living choices and providing vocational learning opportunities that can lead to future employment.

Beyond Just Scratching the Surface
Discovery Elementary School, Sammamish
Lead: Marti Shefveland, Principal
Benefits 450 students
This grant supports the purchase of a set of Surface Tablets to integrate STEM/STEAM(A=Art), throughout class instruction and the art docent program. Devices such as the Surface bring to life the power of the pen for digital inking, collaboration and design. Additionally, the Surface running Windows 10 allows students to create and produce work that showcases their learning and inquiry.

"I am the Innovator!” Creating, Innovating and Foundation Building through CS/STEM Explorations
Maple Hills Elementary, Renton
Lead: Darcie Kardong, Teacher
Benefits 425 students
This grant supports supplies and equipment for high-quality Computer Science/STEM explorations and investigations to help young students increase skills and social-emotional skills such as persistence, resilience, problem solving and collaboration. 

Welding and Hot Area
Gibson Ek High School, Issaquah
Leads: Thomas Fosmark, Teacher, and Ben Reed, Student
Benefits 30 students
This grant – written by students – supports the purchase of equipment for an area where students who are interested in welding, forging, casting and other metal work can safely engage in, and explore, these activities.

Computer Science Discovery
Pine Lake Middle School, Sammamish
Leads: Mike Deletis and Michelle Caponigro, School Administrators
Benefits 180 students
This grant funds teacher professional development training. With this training, teachers will start a new computer science class in the 2018-2019 school year.

Teaching Through Technology
Echo Glen School, Snoqualmie
Lead: LaShae Lee, Principal
Benefits 118 students
This grant supports technology expansion to support students as they meet the citizenship, life management, personal expression and academic foundation challenges of being contributing members of society in adulthood.

Outdoors for All
Locations across Issaquah School District
Lead: Colleen Maher, Teacher
Benefits 130 students
This grant provides Learning Resource Center 2 (LRC-2) students with the opportunity to use customized adapted bicycles while supporting their physical and cognitive needs. LRC-2 students with moderate to severe disabilities receive specially designed instruction at schools across the District.

Patriot Café: Building Community Through Vocational Integration
Liberty High School, Renton
Lead: Amanda Weinberg, Occupational Therapist
Benefits 50 students
This grant supports the expansion of Patriot Café, an established coffee café program at Liberty High School. The program provides special education students with the opportunity to participate in an integrated and enriching vocational experience. Students are responsible for preparing and delivering hand-crafted coffee and espresso beverages to staff throughout their school community, with the support of their peer teaching assistants or special education staff. 

Making Waves—Tools for Interactive Physics Labs
Skyline High School, Sammamish
Lead: Rebecca Fowler, Teacher
Benefits 2,000 students
This grant supports the purchase of ripple tanks for physics classes. Ripple tanks are a fundamental tool for studying two-dimensional wave behavior that is otherwise difficult to investigate interactively. The number of students taking physics at all levels has increased year after year, resulting in the need for more tanks.

About the Issaquah Schools Foundation: Established in 1987, the Issaquah Schools Foundation (an independent 501(c)3 organization) has raised more than $12 million in private fundraising dollars to support the students and educators of the Issaquah School District.

Contact:       
Suzanne Lee, Marketing and Communications Specialist
Issaquah Schools Foundation
suzanne@isfdn.org
(425) 391-8557

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