Grants Available for 2017-18 – Deadline October 20th
The Chatham Education Foundation (CEF) is now soliciting applications for new projects for the 2017-18 school year.
“We have funds and we want to award them to worthy applicants,” Judy Staber, President of the Board announced.
Now in its 15th year of existence, CEF supports a wide range of enrichment programs for students in the Chatham Central School District. Its mission is to provide innovative, worthwhile learning experiences not funded by the regular school budget. The Foundation consists of two endowments; the largest, The Fund for Arts and Humanities, was established by the Ellsworth Kelly Foundation; a second fund, founded in memory of former School Board Chairman, Alexander M. White awards grants across all disciplines. The CEF Board, composed of community members, parents, school personnel and high school students, reviews and votes on the applications each autumn. Project grants cannot exceed $3,000 and most are considerably smaller.
Anyone who has an appropriate project in mind may submit an application— community members, artists, scholars, teachers or school personnel are all encouraged to apply. Applicants not directly connected to the school district must find a teacher or school administrator who will support and sign-off on their proposal. The absolute deadline for submission is October 20th.
On this website under “Grants” is the sample application form. Clicking on “How To Apply” takes one directly to the actual application on the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation’s site.
The Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation provides administrative support to CEF and manages its investments, but the CEF Board alone determines which projects are funded. CEF has underwritten programs by groups and individuals from our region as well as other countries and cultures that have instructed and entertained students throughout the district. See our past programs and photographs on this website.
Anyone wishing to make a donation to support CEF’s important work, click on “Donate Now”.
Where the funds are being spent this year 2016-2017
At the High School
Study of the works of Edith Wharton and Henry James for HS Advanced Placement English with professor James Kraft of Old Chatham took place in Late 2016
“Chris Herron – Unguarded” The former professional basketball player will talk about his addictions to opiodes and heroin and how he overcame them. An assembly for the students will be held in the auditorium during school on Tuesday, April 11 at noon, an evening program at 7 p.m.will be in the auditorium for the community. Everyone is encouraged to attend.
Teacher Patricia Songayllo with funding from CEF has erected bird feeders and students will participate in a Cornell Bird Feeder Watch. This program is ongoing and began in April.
High School Biology teacher Sandra Fischer will take fifty students to sail the Hudson River on the Clearwater to study how such ships were sailed and the science of the Hudson River. A date is to be set in late Spring.
Work began in March with students participating in a new nationally developed FIRST Robotics program.
At the Middle School
The ongoing “Character Education” program this year included the students seeing the film “Hidden Figures” film at the Crandell Theater during the week of February 10 -16
The American Revolution Comes Alive. For the third year Social Studies teacher Will Richard makes History come alive for our Seventh Grade students with hands-on learning on May 19th
During March and April, Middle School students and the Chatham Film Club are once again writing and producing an original film to be shown in school and at The Crandell. They will be guided by film-maker Susan Lutz and teachers Cecelia Hetterich and Michele Debye-Saxinger.
At the Mary E Dardess Elementary School
Jamal Jackson, West African Dancer and Educator will teach fifth Grade students, drumming and traditional dances from Mali, on April 10 /11. co-sponsored by PS21
With funding from CEF, a number of Ukuleles were purchased, through the Fine Arts Booster Club, to encourage all Fifth Graders to learn an instrument in an afterschool program which will begin in May with music teacher Abby Brownell.
This year the Fourth grade will put the final touches to The Longhouse Project that has been led by Flying Deer Nature Center for the past three Springs
Kathryn Kosto and The Art School of Columbia County, partnering with the MED librarian, will teach an after school pop-up Art in the Library program to students from kindergarten through fifth Grade during the Spring Months.
WHERE’S THE SHAKESPEARE??
After more than ten years of helping to fund the Fall Festival of Shakespeare, we have great news: pending the passage of the School Budget in May, this fabulous Shakespeare program, which has involved so many students over the years, is to be included in annual curriculum expenses. Thanks go out to Judi Mathews and her crew for so faithfully ensuring that the program happened every year; to Shakespeare & Company for their sterling work; and to the students, past and present, who love this program and give 110% every year. Chatham Education Foundation is proud to been one of the underwriters from the start.
Granting Press Release November 20, 2016
At its November 9th board meeting the Chatham Education Foundation, (CEF), awarded over $19,800 to 12 projects for the 2017 school year. This is the 14th year the Foundation is in existence and able to distribute funds. Established in 2002, the CEF’s mission is to raise and distribute private dollars for innovative and inspiring projects not fundable by the regular school budget. And this year its board members– nine community members and parents, four school personnel and two high school students—were especially excited by the quality and variety of the projects it was able to support.
In the high school, after studying scientific and cultural aspects of the Hudson River in the classroom, 50 students will sail the Hudson on The Clearwater Sloop, for a day. On deck, they will learn how such ships were sailed and who sailed them. Below deck the river’s commercial history from its earliest whaling days through to the present will be shared. They will be able to sample and evaluate the health of the river’s waters by taking samples and participate in a newly funded project designed to assess the amount of plastic trash and its ecological impact in Hudson.
Another significant high school project will involve an in-school assembly and evening program offered to the larger community presented by Chris Herren, a nationally recognized NBA basketball player who overcame a long battle with drug addiction and now shares his experience and knowledge with communities across the nation. Tied in with this project are various in-school activities and efforts to help students and their parents avoid addiction.
Another grant will provide a science teacher devoted to the study of birds so that students may study birds throughout the year and participate in the annual Cornell Ornithology watch Honors
Senior English students will once more have the opportunity to study with professor Jim Kraft of Old Chatham, who specializes in the work of two famous local writers, Edith Wharton and Henry James.
Funds will be provided for students to participate in a new, nationally developed robotics experience to promote interest in science, technology and engineering. Students will volunteer to participate in all aspects of a program aimed to support and educate community and school about their building of a robot and then in entering their accomplishment in local and possibly national contests.
In the Middle School for the third year in a row Social Studies teacher, William Richard, will receive CEF funds to extend his project of exposing all seventh grade students to early American History in a project called “American Revolution Comes Alive.” Through hands-on learning, students—in appropriate costume—will learn not just about what life was like in battle (or in a military hospital) but also in 18th century domestic life, including open fire cooking, flax spinning and the manufacture of everyday goods. To enrich the reenactment other subject matter teachers integrate their curricula building on the reenactments.
Another project will provide seventh and eighth grade students with the opportunity to produce an original film in a six-week afterschool project offered by the Chatham Film Club. The film will be shown both at the Crandall Theater and in the school.
And once more CEF will help fund a Middle School project involving ‘Character Education.’ A school-wide, year-long undertaking, students engage in activities that are designed to develop qualities such as empathy, cooperation, perseverance, courage. Four major school-wide assemblies with invited speakers are held.
At MED elementary school each fifth grade classroom will have the opportunity to work with Jamal Jackson, a well-known West African dancer and educator. He will introduce students to traditional dances from Mali and teach the meaning and history behind them. Students will be helped to learn dancing and drumming and will then discuss how dance and music provide an understanding of one’s own and different cultures.
A grant enabling the acquisition of ukuleles will let current and future fifth graders learn to play them. Playing the ukulele, a “fun” instrument, should open the doorway to further appreciation of music.
For the third and last year of collaboration with MED, the Flying Deer Nature Center, an educational center dedicated to teaching about the environment and local Native American tribes, will work with fourth graders to complete the building of an Iroquois Longhouse, a structure that served as community and living centers. During Year One, fourth graders helped build the frame by lashing saplings together; in Year Two, bark was harvested, flattened and dried for shingles to cover the sapling. Phase Three will involve the making of cattail mats for sitting and sleeping. An exploration of the Iroquois’ reliance and interaction with the environment is a central theme of this project.
The connection between poetry and language with visual art forms is explored in an after-school program for Kindergarteners through fifth graders offered by artists from the Art School of Chatham. Poems are read out loud and in unison, creative writing exercises are undertaken and then the children make collages and simple paintings inspired by the poems, thus suggesting the connection between spoken and visual language.
Two endowments support the CEF’s work, the largest of which is the Fund for Arts and Humanities, established by the Ellsworth Kelly Foundation, which supports projects in the arts and humanities. A second, smaller fund, in the name of former school board head, the Alexander M. White Fund, is available for all academic activities. The Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation administers the Foundations two funds.