During the 2023-24 school year, the West Chester Area Education Foundation (WCAEF) awarded either partial or full funding to 24 mini-grant applicants totaling close to $35,000! There were a total of 43 mini-grant applications. Out of the 24 funded mini-grants, eight were given to WCASD elementary schools, four to middle schools, and nine to high schools.

The schools associated with the mini-grant recipients included:

• East Bradford, East Goshen, Exton, Fern Hill, and Glen Acres Elementary Schools
• Fugett, Peirce, and Stetson Middle Schools
• East, Henderson, and Rustin High Schools
  

Almost 2,500 students directly benefited from participating in or experiencing mini-grants this past school year, with additional impact to our local community members as well.

East Bradford Elementary received a mini-grant of $340 to fund a field trip to the neighborhood supermarket, Giant. During the visit, students explored various departments, asked questions, and learned about the store's operations. Afterward, they had lunch at Brothers Pizza & Pasta.

The trip provided opportunities for ELD students to practice speaking and listening skills in real-world settings, interacting with each other and local employees.

Mini-Grant Key Details:

• Submitted and Organized By: Laura Raws and Amanda Cinnamond, EBE
• Student Impact: 20 East Bradford Elementary ELD Students
• Overall Success: "The entire trip was a success!"
• Considered Improvements: Include scavenger hunt through Giant to add problem solving

East Goshen Elementary received a mini-grant of $186 that was used to purchase stickers to enhance cards that students created for Bellingham residents. East Goshen students make these cards three times a year—in December, February, and late spring.

The stickers inspire the students' drawings and make the card-making process more enjoyable for kindergarteners and autistic support students.

Mini-Grant Key Details:

• Submitted and Organized By: Tracy McCloskey, EGE
• Student Impact: 500 East Goshen Elementary Students and Local Retirement Community Residents
• Overall Success: "The stickers not only add more to the cards but inspire my students' creativity when they are drawing on the cards."
• Considered Improvements: Add more meaning to the experience to have some students also deliver the cards to resident to see the true impact.

Exton Elementary received a mini-grant of $1,054 to build and fill two additional raised garden beds! Students planted strawberries, lettuce, broccoli, and celery, and maintained the gardens by watering and weeding regularly while recording their observations in science notebooks.

The students will weigh and bag part of the harvest to donate to the Chester County Food Bank, helping local families in the West Chester Community.

Mini-Grant Key Details:

• Submitted and Organized By: Christina Buckel, EXE
• Student Impact: 89 Exton Elementary Students and Chester County Food Bank
• Overall Success: "Adding the extra beds provided more food to donate and helped students learn science and responsibility."
• Considered Improvements: Start seeds in the classroom to develop starter plants and consider a fence to keep animals out.

During the 2023-24 school year, Fern Hill Elementary received funding for three unique mini-grants that totaled $4,360 and impacted 228 specific students in certain grades as well as the entire school in one case.

Fern Hill Elementary received a mini-grant of $1,160 to enhance mathematics education in 4th and 5th grade classrooms by introducing movable whiteboard easels. This approach aimed to create a dynamic learning environment that fostered student engagement, collaborative learning, and improved problem-solving skills.

The whiteboard easels have helped students take ownership of their learning, make their thinking visible, and support a more interactive, student-centered education.

Mini-Grant Key Details:

• Submitted and Organized By: Ashley Vanegas, FHE
• Student Impact: 150 Fern Hill Elementary Students
• Overall Success: "Successfully enhanced student engagement, collaboration, and visible thinking in mathematics."
• Considered Improvements: Start implementing whiteboards throughout the entire school.

Fern Hill Elementary received a $700 mini-grant to enhance its schoolwide positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS) program, aimed at creating a positive and safe environment. The initiative focuses on teaching students the "Fern Hill Way," emphasizing teamwork and community. Targeting specific challenge areas like hallways and buses, the program includes assemblies, pep rallies, rewards, classroom lessons, and more.

The grant funded updated PAWS signage, incentives, and challenges encouraging the "Fern Hill Way."

Mini-Grant Key Details:

• Submitted and Organized By: Christina Letrinko, FHE
• Student Impact: 400 Fern Hill Elementary Students
• Overall Success: "We were able to get updated PAWS signage, incentives, and fund challenges that helped problem areas. We have met our goals for this program."
• Considered Improvements: Encourage more staff buy in to the program.

Fern Hill Elementary received a $2,500 mini-grant to rejuvenate and expand its school garden, transforming it into a dynamic and immersive outdoor learning environment. This project promoted experiential learning and community involvement by partnering with local community members and caregivers. The mini-grant enabled the purchase of new planters, soil, insect netting and hoops, trellises, student benches, seeds, and seedlings!

Fern Hill then donated food to the West Chester County Food Cupboard and visited with their organization to understand the organization's important role in our community.

Mini-Grant Key Details:

• Submitted and Organized by: Mercy Mize and Rebekah Ulmer, FHE
• Student Impact: 78 Fern Hill Elementary Students and West Chester Food Cupboard
• Overall Success: "Overall, the backyard bobcat garden project was very successful! One of the new areas of success that we are most proud of are the collaborations with small businesses and restaurants."
  
• Considered Improvements: Budgeting for future soil, plants, and any added or unexpected funds for the garden.

Glen Acres Elementary received a $1,000 mini-grant for their Build Bins initiative, which aimed to foster student interaction, enhance fine motor skills, improve problem-solving abilities, and boost socialization.

Mini-Grant Key Details:

• Submitted and Organized by: Trish Besselman, Teresa Davis, and Theresa Primus, GAE
• Student Impact: 81 Glen Acres Elementary Students
• Overall Success: "The students were successful in meeting the goals and objectives that were set, and the grant allowed students to problem solve through collaborative conversation."
• Considered Improvements: Offer more activities to increase different options for different students.

Glen Acres Elementary received a $2,195 mini-grant to implement the Strawbees STEAM Classroom Robotics program. This initiative introduces fifth graders to design thinking, engineering, coding, and robotics through high-quality, versatile, and reusable hands-on materials. It developed student's creativity, collaboration, critical thinking, and communication skills.

The program has provided hands-on activities transforming students' imaginative ideas into tangible creations.

Mini-Grant Key Details:

• Submitted and Organized by: Matt Rogers, GAE
• Student Impact: 80 Glen Acres Elementary Students
• Overall Success: "Every aspect of my program goals were met and exceeded. Not only were all students fully engaged in meaningful design thinking exercises that strengthened their collaboration and communication skills."
• Considered Improvements: Storage provided by the kit was not as substantial as expected. Storage solutions beyond the kit were found and implemented.

Fugett Middle School received a $2500 mini-grant for school beautification and iCare projects. The beautification grant provided funds to liven up the hallways with yearbook pictures freshly painted murals, and bulletin boards! The SEL activities grant was used to provide students with ping-pong tables, corn hole, pickleball courts, and more! These enhancements have not only created a more lively and welcoming environment for students, they have fostered belonging and school connection.

FMS encourages the WCAEF board members to come walk the halls to see for themselves!

Mini-Grant Key Details:

• Submitted and Organized by: Robbi Giuliano, FMS
• Student Impact: All of Fugett Middle School, Students and Staff
• Overall Success: "Above and Beyond success, FMS feels like the kids truly live here each day."
• Considered Improvements: FMS is not done yet! There will be more murals painted throughout the school and bulletin boards will be further enhanced using the new materials.

Peirce Middle School received a $900 mini-grant for the Chargers Coffee Cafe, a student-run cart that serves coffee, tea, and snacks to teachers. Operated by students from the Life Skills Program, the Coffe Cafe helped them develop communication and pre-vocational skills, explore career options, and practice functional reading skills aligned with their IEP goals.

This initiative has strengthened connections between Life Skills students and teachers, fostering a greater sense of community.

Mini-Grant Key Details:

• Submitted and Organized by: Audrey Romanelli, PMS
• Student Impact: 15 students and Coffee Cafe customers
• Overall Success: "Areas of success include the students' willingness and excitement to participate in the cart, and students being able to exercise their reading abilities and practice independence."
• Considered Improvements: Working more on the students' "customer service" skills via social skills instruction.

Peirce Middle School received a $2,500 mini-grant for Coding Drones with CoDrone Classroom Kits. Using these kits, students are able to learn to code in the CoDrone EDU platform, starting with basic tasks like taking off and landing drones. They then programed their drones to identify colors and perform specific actions based on those colors. The students navigated their drones through an obstacle course with various targets, which prompted them to troubleshoot and refine their code if the drones did not complete the course successfully.

Those who mastered these skills had the chance to design their own obstacle courses for their peers to tackle!

Mini-Grant Key Details:

• Submitted and Organized by: Kelsey Morrow, PMS
• Student Impact: 60 Peirce Middle School students
• Overall Success: "Program goals were completed and students were very successful in figuring out how to code and operate the drones."
• Considered Improvements: Drones will be used in all four quarters next year instead of just one.

Stetson Middle School received a $1,500 mini-grant for a Stetson Community Mural. The goal of this mural was to create artwork that will transform the main hallway. SMS is looking to improve building culture by promoting positive relationships and growth with their students using the acronym PRIDE.

Students are working on the letters P.R.I.D.E for the mural and SMS is planning on unveiling the finished project in the fall of 2024.

Mini-Grant Key Details:

• Submitted and Organized by: Michele Philips, SMS
• Student Impact: 6-8th grade students, Best Buddies, Art Club, and Beautification Club
• Overall Success: "Project is going extremely well!"
• Considered Improvements: SMS is looking to expand on their project after completing this mural in the fall of 2024.

Please watch the video below, which was created by Stetson MS students.

East High School received a $1,575 mini-grant to bring Drew Arata and Bob Deane, a pair of local artists to work with Sculpture and Earth and Space students. They spent a class period digging clay from the local creek and creating sculptures from that clay. The students then processed the clay into a workable state, created collaborative sculptures, individual sculptures, wheel-thrown pottery, and glaze-ware.

Students embraced the locally harvested clay with all of its irregularities and freely experimented with the material, making the most out of the unique experience!

Mini-Grant Key Details:

• Submitted and Organized by: Christy Maurer, EHS
• Student Impact: 22 EHS students
• Overall Success: "We completed our project and elevated our sculpture student's abilities while working with clay!"
• Considered Improvements: Next year, condense the schedule as much as possible to control the workability of the clay more easily and gain momentum.

East High School received a $2,500 mini-grant to invest in graphic novels and historical non-fiction texts for EHS honors history classes. The goal was to have students increase their literacy skills by provoking thoughtful conversation and have them experience history through the perspective of others rather than only through their textbooks. This allowed students to explore and compare narratives, drawing connections between these texts and the course material.

The goal was to foster connections between historical content and real-world experiences, bringing history to life for EHS students.

Mini-Grant Key Details:

• Submitted and Organized by: Theresa Phethean and Dean Owens, EHS
• Student Impact: 55 EHS students
• Overall Success: "Students were truly able to engage in deep and thoughtful conversation. They were able to gain a deeper understanding of the historical patterns and issues we still experience today."
• Considered Improvements: Students expressed they would prefer to complete the whole unit consecutively rather than once a week. EHS is also hoping to incorporate these new lessons into students of all course levels next year!

Henderson High School received a $1,000 mini-grant to support a Unified Track and Field Team. The unified team consists of students with and without intellectual disabilities allowing them to compete alongside each other. Each team member competes in one field event, one track event, and one relay.

These athletes trained together, built a safe environment to support each other, and competed alongside each other representing HHS.

Having a sport in common is just one more way that preconceptions are swept away, and student athletes can show school spirit and inclusivity.

Mini-Grant Key Details:

• Submitted and Organized by: Barbara Taylor, HHS
• Student Impact: 24 HHS students
• Overall Success: "To say that it was a success is an understatement. Unifying our athletes provided a space where they grew not only in their athletic ability but also their social horizons under the Special Olympics Unified Sports title."
• Considered Improvements: HHS wishes to expand the program to include additional students and to win the county meet next year!

Henderson High School received a $2,500 mini-grant to sponsor a trip to the National Mall in Washington, D.C. The purpose of this trip was for students to experience all cultural aspects of D.C. Students were able to learn about civil rights activists, astronomers, the underground railroad, and much more! On the trip, they have the privilege of visiting the MLK Memorial, WW1 Memorial, The Capitol Building, The National Museum of American History, the Lincoln Memorial, and Howard University! This allowed them to reflect about their culture and give them a deeper understanding of the society around them and be inspired to advocate for causes that align with their interest.

This grant gave students an experience they may not ever have again. The underserved population of the school was also invited and the entire expense of the trip was covered by the Black Student Union and the WCAEF mini-grant.

Mini-Grant Key Details:

• Submitted and Organized by: Shanelle Dorsey, HHS
• Student Impact: 60 HHS students
• Overall Success: "The goal was met! Students had a great time visiting different historical sights and learning about their cultural heritage."
• Considered Improvements: Scaling down the number of sites visited since there was difficulty navigating such a large group around the city in a short amount of time.

Rustin, Henderson, and East High School received a $2,500 mini-grant for the BSU to visit DelState University. The visit presented the students with the opportunity to explore firsthand the unique environment and educational offerings of an HBCU. They were able to interact with the staff and students at DelState, ask questions, and envision themselves as future attendees!

This trip underscored the importance of representation and diversity in higher education and empowered students to explore education opportunities that align with their aspirations and cultural identity.

Mini-Grant Key Details:

• Submitted and Organized by: Kim Freese, HHS
• Student Impact: 39 from HHS, RHS & EHS
• Overall Success: "This experience provided valuable insight into the academic program and also sparked genuine interest among students considering DelState as a potential college choice!"
• Considered Improvements: Better budget planning, there was some leftover money from the mini-grant that is being used for a trip to the Lincoln Memorial next year.

Rustin High School received a $1,913 mini-grant for Tech Ed students to design and construct four raised flower boxes, now adorning the school's main entrance. Under the guidance of Assistant Principal, Mrs. Menzel, students collaborated on design plans, made several revisions, and completed the project through the efforts of five different classes!

Mini-Grant Key Details:

• Submitted and Organized by: Ted Harrison, RHS
• Student Impact: 45 Rustin High School students
• Overall Success: "Students creating the boxes were able to experience real world design by interacting with a client and creating a design while staying within a budget."
• Considered Improvements: No improvements noted.

East High School received a $2,500 mini-grant to participate in the Ivy League Model UN Conference in January. This grant made attendance possible and opened doors for a significant number of students to take part in this transformative event, igniting their passion for global affairs and diplomacy.

Students crafted detailed position papers, collaborated with peers from diverse backgrounds, and delivered compelling speeches in committee sessions.

Mini-Grant Key Details:

• Submitted and Organized By: Laurren Payton, EHS
• Student Impact: 28 EHS students
• Overall Success: "The goal of the grant was achieved. The impact of this grant reverberated far beyond the ILMUNC, as it catalyzed personal and academic growth among our students."
• Considered Improvements: There were no areas of improvement mentioned.

There are two mini-grants left to be completed in the fall of 2024, and Rustin's Black Student Union mini-grant, "Visit to Historical Black Universities," also has a final visit to complete in the fall.

• Submitted and Organized by: Angelique Rucci, East High School
• Amount Awarded: $2,155

• Submitted and Organized by: Jennifer Ozgur, Rustin High School
• Amount Awarded: $1,500

Contact Linda Cherashore, Secretary to the West Chester Area Education Foundation,

at lcherashore@wcasd.net or 484-266-1018.