Auburn Education Foundation: Spring grants sprout love for learning

Students visit Memorial City Hall in Auburn.

Amanda Tallcot, Auburn special education teacher, collaborated with Kevin Burke of Accredited Art, a local art company, to create a coloring book, "Let's Color Auburn's History," that features historical sites such as the Seward House Museum, shown in the background.

As the 2022-2023 school year approaches the finish line, Auburn Education Foundation also ends another chapter and gets ready for a new year that will feature one of its favorite fundraisers, a new Auburn Alumni Hall of Distinction class of notable graduates, and of course, funding for those innovative and creative classroom projects.

It has been a successful year that included a fun-filled day of Gobblers at our annual Gobble ‘n Go fundraiser last November and an inspirational evening when five distinguished Auburn public school graduates were recognized for their outstanding contributions to their chosen vocation and to their communities. Five scholarships, administered by AEF, were awarded at the Auburn High School Junior/Senior Awards Ceremony, and a total of $25,906.00 was donated to the district to fund projects through AEF's educator grants program.

Those projects awarded this spring will be featured in this column.

The first grant went to the tech department at Auburn High School, where students in Michael Baldino's Advanced Transportation course learned about the engineering, design and fabrication techniques used in building motorcycles. Students developed higher order thinking skills to build high-performance custom motorcycle frames and expressed their creativity in designing every aspect of their mini motorcycles. Learned skills will help prepare those students attending technical colleges or starting positions in industry.

Heather Justian, school counselor at Casey Park, was awarded a grant to fund calming areas within classrooms and create a sensory hallway. Teachers have noted that due to and since the pandemic, children need support in processing emotions and regulating behaviors. Calming areas allow students to remain in the classroom and receive needed support. The positive outcome is a decrease in disruptive behavior and an increase in student engagement as this safe space helps students regain control, reflect on their behaviors, and rejoin their class. The sensory hallway is a series of pathways in the hall that students follow using all different types of movement (skipping, hopping, jumping, etc.) allowing students to burn off extra energy.

Fourth grade students learn about their local community. That includes learning about the many and varied historical sites located in Auburn as well as facts about famous Auburnians. Amanda Tallcot, special education teacher, collaborated with Kevin Burke of Accredited Art, a local art company, to create a coloring book, "Let's Color Auburn's History," that features many of these sites and people that are part of Auburn's history. Each fourth-grade student was given a book and in conjunction with the Fourth Grade Passport Program, were then able to visit several of the sites mentioned in the book. This project provides information and entertainment to the students and enhances the fourth-grade curriculum.

The library at Auburn High School is a gathering place for students and is open throughout the school day. With the relaxation of COVID guidelines, Beth Cuddy, librarian, introduced board games as an alternative to students interacting constantly with screens. Research shows that board games alleviate stress, reduce social anxiety and improve interpersonal skills. Ms. Cuddy received funding to replenish and add board games to the collection in the library. Since these games have become available, improved library behavior has been noted and students are making new friends. Games include chess which students also like to check out to use in study hall, Rummikub, Mancala, Backgammon and Trivial Pursuit Decades.

The final spring grant was awarded to Shannon Dunbar, executive director of instructional technology, to purchase Root Coding Robots for each of the elementary buildings and Auburn Junior High School. These robots are an instructional technology tool with a supportive curriculum that can be leveraged for coding. It involves scaffolding computer programming that can be used by the youngest learners and progressively advances with grade levels. The implementation of coding also allows students to advance their skills in communication, collaboration, and team building. These robots will be housed in the Innovation Labs, which were a signature project funded by AEF in the 2018-19 school year. Use of the robots will increase student engagement with hands-on learning, supporting problem solving, critical thinking skills as well as preparing students for their futures in a technologically advanced world.

Auburn Education Foundation is indeed proud of what has been accomplished this school year. None of this would be possible without the support of alumni, businesses and individuals within the community who attend AEF's fundraising events and generously donate to the Annual Appeal. We thank you! Have a wonderful summer.

Janie Hutchinson is a member of the Auburn Education Foundation Board of Directors. For more information, visit auburnedfoundation.org.

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