Awards

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“School of Fish” Student Mosaic Mural, Part 2

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This award by the TCSD Foundation finished the installation of a K-12 collaborative mosaic mural with the help of local artist, Denise Milito. Engaging and actively involving the entire school in its design and creation, this 9’ x 15’ mosaic mural was permanently installed on the exterior wall of the high school gym foyer. All K-12th grade students made their own individual tile for the mosaic at various times throughout the 2015-2016 school year. student-mosaic-mural

Thank you for your support of our varied educational programs: http://tcsdfoundation.org/donate/

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June 2016 TCSD Foundation Grant Awards

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Classroots: A Farm-to-School Experience

Melissa Bryant, Hope Lewis. Gail Brisson, $1,500 Classroots plans to connect local farmers, chefs, small-scale food producers, and researchers with the school community to promote nutrition, an awareness of local food production & culture, and to begin to establish relationships that could lead to internship & employment opportunities for high school students and graduates. Classroots will be a campus-wide celebration Friday, October 7, and will include art and music students. Chefs, farmers, and local food producers (including students who are beekeepers or who garden, raise animals, and cook) will lead demonstrations and activities.

Hoophouse Fiesta: Growing Salsa & Sustainability

Melissa Bryant, Gail Brisson, Alan Vogel, $750 Hoophouse Fiesta plans to establish an on-campus garden and hoop house so that TCSD Middle School students can grow greens, tomatoes, hot peppers, and herbs. Students will then use these ingredients to make salsa and other products that can be sold to staff. This project will invite local experts to share their knowledge with students about plant science, hydroponic gardens, sustainable agriculture, plant-breeding, and the basics of planting and growing. TCSD STEM students will be mentored through the design and construction of the hoop house.

Active Afterschool

Ulysses Philomathic Library, $250 Active Afterschool will support the library’s very active afternoons at the library program with the addition of new games for students. Many students hang out at the library between three and five in the afternoon, more resources are needed to help them occupy those two hours in a way that engages them in recreation and learning, and allows other library patrons to continue working in an environment that meets their expectations. Upper elementary and middle School students are the primary target for these resources.

“School of Fish” Student Mosaic Mural, Part 2

$1,200 This award will finish the installation of a K-12 collaborative mosaic mural with the help of local artist, Denise Milito. Engaging and actively involving the entire school in its design and creation, this 9’ x 15’ mosaic mural will be permanently installed on the exterior wall of the high school gym foyer. All k-12th grade students made their own individual tile for the mosaic at various times throughout the 2015-2016 school year.

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2015-16 Grants in Action: Grants awarded in December 2015

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The TCSD Foundation awarded a total of $6,000 for Eight Grants in Action in December, and are as follows. Middle School Library Makers Club supported with $200.

This will help with the purchase of materials for students to explore and work with building and controlling robots.

Middle School Author Visit supported with $800.

Look for details of an author visit for middle school students, offering an opportunity to meet and talk with an author whose work students read.

Elementary School kits for developing fine motor skills for $200.

This will support the assembling of classroom kits by our elementary school occupational therapist.  The kits will be fun and help students develop needed skills.  These experiences should help reduce referrals for special services for motor skill development.

Middle School Localvore Club supported with $1,000.

This will help provide supplies for food experiences in the ELA special class as well as in other classes.  The experiences include nutrition learning, learning about local food sources,  organizing and presenting information, food preparation and sampling.  Many will be integrated with ELA topics.  Funds will also go toward the planning and construction of a food cart in technology classes.

Middle School Fifth Grade Music Classes workshops supported with $1,000.

Classes will participate in 4 in-class workshops led by Music for Unity.  They will explore themes of unity, culture, civil rights through music.  Materials related to the workshop experiences are available for the teacher to use throughout the year.

K-12 Youth Art Month and Mosaic Mural Project is supported with $1,500.

Continuing the tradition of celebration March as student art month,  K-12 art teachers plan student participation throughout the year and special workshops in March to make special tiles for an outdoor mural installation.  Foundation funds will help support the materials needed and the services of a local artist to work with students on final design and installation.  The community is invited to a special art show on March 31.

The High School Jazz Ensemble is supported with $300.

This will provide the fee for a professional jazz musician to rehearse and play with the group to develop their skills.  At this year’s Jazz Cabaret on February 10th, the ensemble (will show) their skills.

High School Robotics Club is supported with $1,000.

This will help in the purchase of a control system board and supplies to give students an opportunity to work on component parts and programming of a control system.  It will provide a foundation for training on robotics control for this and future years.

Congratulations to all our recipients, and we look forward to the next grant cycle, with applications being accepted throughout the month of May.

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Spring 2014 Grant Recipients Announced

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The TCSD Foundation Board approved the following awards for the Fall 2014 Grant cycle:

$199 to the Trumansburg Afterschool Program for the purchase of durable science  (plant and animal) specimens to promote the powers of observation for 30-35 K-2 children.

$500 to the Trumansburg ES/MS Robotics Team to purchase an FLL Robot EV3 kit, the basic, primary component needed to compete in the coming year’s FIRST Lego League Challenge, and will also be reused in future competitions.

Up to $350 to the Middle School Library to purchase paint and supplies for a student-designed mural outside the MS library, in a collaborative project with the Art Department. Approximately 30- students (grades 5-8) are anticipated to participate in the mural painting.

$1,500 to the Library to support the creation of a MakerSpace in the library. MakerSpaces feature collections of materials that enable students to take on projects that foster individual learning and experimentation. Funds will be  used to purchase materials that would allow students to explore basic electronics, as well as a collection of tools and supplies for basic crafting and woodworking.

$1,000 to the Trumansburg High School to support the Floating Classroom, a longtime ecology field trip.

$2,000 to the Trumansburg High School Robotics Team, the Robot Raiders. Funds will be used to build a training robot to prepare the team for the 2014-2015 competitive season.

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2013 Fall Grant Recipients Announced

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Youth Art Month

A Youth Art Month will be celebrated in March 2014 across the Trumansburg Central School District to engage all students K-12 in activities and workshops. Artist workshops will be held on Tuesdays and Thursdays after school.  High school students will create short informational movies using iPads about famous artists and their work. March ART Madness will involve students actively listening to and seeing artwork by famous artists, including via informational movies, and voting on their favorite, with a single artist winning and advancing until a single artist remains, representing the district winner. TCSD Foundation funds will be used to support activities and workshop for the month of March.

TASP Labyrinth Challenge

The Trumansburg Afterschool Program (Middle School) will receive funds to purchase two Labyrinth Balance boards to support an ongoing Labyrinth Challenge. Balance Boards encourage students to improve their balance and coordination, and increase their ability to concentrate when competing with each other.

Trumansburg Robot Raiders

The brand new High School Robotics Team will receive funds from the TCSD Foundation to support its rookie year, including registration for the season’s regional competition and materials and tools required to build a competitive robot. The competition – the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) is “The Varsity Sport for the Mind.” FRC combines the excitement of sport with the rigors of science and technology. It’s as close to “real-world engineering” as a student can get.

Ulysses Philomathic Library Afterschool Activities

Funds will support What Teens Want, a series of afterschool activities to be hosted at the Ulysses Philomathic Library. Based on a survey of local teens, the library will provide the supervision, space, and promotion for activities such as movie making, knitting, writing, book discussions, community service, cooking, photography, drawing and anime. The series will be launched with a Dungeons and Dragons program.

Adopt-a-Band

TCSD Foundation funds will support a collaboration between the Russell Doig Middle School and the Ithaca Concert Band. Middle school students will sit side-by-side with Ithaca Concert Band members, enhancing their music education and inspiring them to continue with their instruments after graduation. The mentorship project will culminate in a concert on March 2, 2014 at 4:00 p.m.

Trumansburg Elementary School 2013 Subaru Healthy Sprouts Garden Grant Grand Prize Winner

Trumansburg Elementary School was selected as one of 50 award winners from a pool of more than 3,000 inspiring applicants for the 2013 Subaru Healthy Sprouts Garden Grants administered by the National Gardening Association and funded by Subaru of America. Trumansburg Elementary School is one of three to receive a $1,500 Grand Prize. The Food Studies Institute submitted the proposal to continue and expand its vision of the school garden as an outdoor lab integrated with the Food is Elementary curriculum. According to the National Gardening Association, the Trumansburg garden program was selected “because of the exceptional nature of the work you are doing to enhance the lives of youth and the community in your area.  The application you submitted provided a combination of clearly stated goals, organized planning for your garden, well developed plans for incorporating health and nutrition into the curriculum.  We are delighted to have this opportunity to support your garden education program and we are excited to hear how your program uses the award to enhance the experience of students and participants.”

The Trumansburg Elementary School garden education program is run by the Food Studies Institute and Dr. Antonia Demas together with the Food is Elementary nutrition education program. Being a top winner of this long standing program highlights the important work that the Food Studies Institute, Dr. Demas and the Trumansburg Central School District are doing together.

The Trumansburg Elementary School garden education program will be featured in the Kids Garden News, a publication of the National Gardening Association, in the near future. The award will provide a variety of gardening supplies so that different cultivation techniques can be experimented with in the garden.

2012 Teacher Grant Awards

The following grant awards totaling $5,131 were made during 2012: Elementary School Reading Buddies Program  --  Gail Brisson Created “Reading Buddy Bins” organized around social studies topics, adding to resources already in place. The Reading Buddies Program pairs older and younger students to read and discuss books together, fostering both literacy and social studies goals. Teachers are developing lesson materials and activities for the books in the bins. The topics supported by this grant include Martin Luther King, Jr., Women’s History and United States Presidents. Elementary teachers and the elementary librarian worked together to select titles addressing the social studies curriculum and the Common Core Standards.

High School Living Environment Students-Floating Classroom --  Sue Stein Students participate in an ecology field trip aboard the Cayuga Lake Floating Classroom research vessel. Students learn and conduct data collecting techniques; their data is added to a Citizen Science database. Students also take a walking, working field trip up Taughannock Creek to learn firsthand about stream ecology and geology. These outdoor experiences are prepared for and followed up with classroom discussion, graphing activities and written analysis questions.

Ulysses Philomathic Library New Technology Two LeapFrog LeapPads were purchased to encourage young patrons (ages 2-5) and parents to enjoy stories and games in the development of early literacy skills. A family workshop teaching and exploring technology and literacy is planned.

Trumansburg Central School, Grades K-12   Youth Art Month  -- Ellen Pennock  Activities and special workshops planned by the K-12 art department will engage students during Youth Art Month (March 2013) and in February, March and April.  Workshops in these three months will include four aspects and interpretations of plaster casting. A “March Madness” artists study and selection of favorites in each school will culminate in a professional artist ‘winner.’ The style of last year’s winner, Andy Goldsworthy, will be the inspiration for a planned outdoor school/community snow-art project. A K-12 Art show featuring student workshop art will be held in March. TCSD Foundation funds will provide resources for publicity, art materials for workshops and artist fees.

Middle School New Leaf Club Resources  --  Jennie Owens  The New Leaf Club is an extra-curricular opportunity for students in grades 5-8. The club activities support and teach healthy life style choices.  It was a pilot program last year. This year, the club has expanded in the number of students participating, with twice as many members. Many community members have volunteered time to share expertise with students. TCSD Foundation funds will help provide materials for students and nutritious snacks and cooking supplies.

Middle School 7th Grade Corning Museum of Glass Field Trip  -- Amanda Colunio All 7th grade students will participate in a guided tour of the Corning Glass Museum; tours are developed and led by the museum’s education staff and docents and complement the NYS curriculum. All students will participate in a hands-on glassmaking experience in one of the museum’s workshops. TCSD Foundation funds will support Museum expenses for this trip.

Elementary School Food Literacy Program   --  Jeanie Wiggins  The Food Literacy Program provides nutrition education in every elementary classroom, K-4th grade. The program was developed by the Food Studies Institute. The nutrition educators in the classroom include the school’s food service employees, as well as a trained food educator and volunteers. The program has a good record of encouraging children to try and also prepare nutritious foods. The program receives additional funding support from other philanthropic foundations as well as some food donations from local CSAs and businesses. TCSD Foundation funds will help provide supplies and resources for classroom activities.

Thank you to all of our generous donors for making these grants possible and the resulting educational opportunities for our students.

Our next Teacher Grants cycle begins May 1, 2013!

Spring 2012 Grant Awards

Our spring grant cycle for 2012 concluded with the following grant awards totaling $2,030.

K-4 Social Studies/Reading Buddies Program

Created “Reading Buddy Bins” organized around social studies topics, adding to resources already in place. The Reading Buddies Program pairs older and younger students to read and discuss books together, fostering both literacy and social studies goals. Teachers are developing lesson materials and activities for the books in the bins. The topics supported by this grant include Martin Luther King, Jr., Women’s History and United States Presidents.  Elementary teachers and the elementary librarian worked together to select titles addressing the social studies curriculum and the Common Core Standards.

H.S. Living Environment Students

Students participate in an ecology field trip aboard the Cayuga Lake Floating Classroom research vessel. Students learn and conduct data collecting techniques; their data is added to a Citizen Science database. Students also take a walking, working field trip up Taughannock Creek to learn firsthand about stream ecology and geology. These outdoor experiences are prepared for and followed up with classroom discussion, graphing activities and written analysis questions.

Ulysses Philomathic Library

Two LeapFrog LeapPads were purchased to encourage young patrons (ages 2-5) and parents to enjoy stories and games in the development of early literacy skills. A family workshop teaching and exploring technology and literacy is planned.

Thank you to all of our donors for making these grants possible and the resulting educational opportunities for our students.

Award Recipients Announced for 2009 Grant Cycle

The awards for the winter grant cycle of the Trumansburg Central School District Foundation (TCSD) have been awarded to grant recipients. TCSD Board members individually presented each recipient with the awards totaling close to $2,500. The programs being funded are for projects developed by teachers of the Trumansburg Central School District that applied for the Teaching Grants which were the focus of the winter grant cycle through TCSD. Of the numerous grant proposals, four projects were chosen to receive funding.

The projects receiving the awards consist of the following:

A fifth grade project “Canadian Culture” which will welcome Canadian residents to interact and share with students various aspects and experiences inherent in Canadian culture.

“Eat Well, Live Well,” is a project that will acquaint fourth grade students with healthy living habits by learning to use the public transportation system, TCAT, to travel to Wegmans and taste and learn about nutritious foods.

“Sensory Materials” is a project that will address sensory processing disorders. Serving the K-2 and 3-4 grade elementary school classes, this project will provide the school with the resources to help detect sensory processing disorders early which will be able to prevent more serious behavioral problems in the future.“More Peas, Please,” is a collaborative program between the Trumansburg Kindergarten classes and Tompkins Community Action’s Head Start program that will develop a garden project that aims to teach science, math, socialization skills, and well being by exposing children to learn about where food comes from.

Of all of the proposals received and reviewed by the Trumansburg Central School District Foundation, each was for a project developed by district educators that directly involves and benefits students, and would otherwise not be funded through existing avenues of school district support.

Tara Masters, President of the Board, states,

“Many teachers presented wonderful project ideas and we are excited to award these grants that will allow our teachers in the Trumansburg School District to carry out their work with the kids. The children in the district will be directly impacted by these projects. The experiences they have will be something for them to draw on for years to come. We want to thank everyone who contributed that helped to make this possible.”

Trumansburg Committee for Teen Driver Safety

The Trumansburg Central School District Foundation is pleased to announce it has awarded a grant in the amount of $250 to help support the Trumansburg Committee for Teen Driver Safety. The grant provided funds for Trumansburg Students’ participation in the Street Survival Clinic held at Watkins Glen International. The event is an effort to give teens a practical experience beyond that of normal driver’s education. This donation of $250 was given by a local Trumansburg business, and a local individual, and is in direct support for a hands-on driving clinic with one-on-one instructors to help teen drivers learn specific skills and improve reaction time.

“This class has showed me what to do in emergency situations and allowed me to practice reaction skills that I would not be able to practice on the road,” said Kyle Vandelden, a driving school participant and student at Trumansburg High School.

"We are happy to help support the Trumansburg Committee for Teen Driver Safety as it is co-sponsoring this event,” said TCSD President, Tara Masters.

Five Grants Awarded During Semi-Annual Giving Event

The Trumansburg Central School District Foundation Inc., is thrilled to award a total amount of $5,695 to fund five proposals to benefit the students in the Trumansburg Central School District. The TCSD Foundation was able to award these funds with generous donations from the Tompkins Trust Company, The Gothic Eves Bed and Breakfast and with donations from private individuals.

"The generous gift given by Tompkins Trust Company has afforded us the opportunity to gather other resources and then grant these combined funds to many terrific endeavors in the Trumansburg School District," said TCSD Foundation President Tara Masters.

The grants awarded funded the following five programs:

  • A drug prevention and health and wellness speaker for a full assembly and parent talk at the Trumansburg High School. Dan Davis is internationally known and his programs focus on education, drug-free youth, youth leadership, team building and positive role modeling.
  • A Dell Notebook Storage Cart for the Trumansburg Elementary School for Technology Integration in the classroom. By adding this cart it makes it possible to house 10 laptops and create seamless rotation of laptops for instructional use in third grade classrooms.
  • Ten Playaway audio books for the Curiosity Center in the Trumansburg Elementary School Library. In addition to the Playaway books, which will be a core lending library, are nonfiction books which relate to BookFlix, an educational database, and supplies for the center. The center offers support to classroom learning and remediation and enrichment in literacy.
  • A “Brain Gym” program & “Brain Gym 101” training which activates neuro-physiological balance for children and adults. The training & program benefit teachers in our elementary school and all students.
  • Ten Pan-balance scales, four microscopes and five sets of weights to provide hands on math and science activities for the second grade Trumansburg students.

The TCSD Foundation had the pleasure of awarding the funds to the High School and Elementary School the last week of January 2008 as part of the Foundation’s semi-annual giving period.

Trumansburg High School Government and Economics

The TCSD Foundation is privileged to award the Trumansburg High School Government and Economics classes a grant in the amount of $200. The grant has been designated to purchase sixty copies of the classroom edition of the Wall Street Journal each month. Two classrooms will receive the publication, allowing students to have a resource to refer to when learning about global economics, business, government or personal investments. This is to follow-up on the presentations given by the staff at Tompkins Trust Company in May of 2007.

“We are pleased to award this grant,” says Tara Masters, TCSD Foundation President. “We hope it will help focus students on the discovery and understanding of financial and economic issues in the world.”

Source: Ithaca Journal, Trumansburg Free Press

Trumansburg High School Receives Grant

The TCSD Foundation is privileged to award the Trumansburg High School Music Department a grant in the amount of $1,000. The grant was awarded in early August and has been designated towards the purchase of music for the Music library, private lessons for a High School student, school owned instrument repair, small hand percussion and/or African drums for the High School, and travel fees for students and their teachers to attend All-State or All-Eastern band / Chorus events.

“We at the TCSD Foundation are thankful to receive this donation from a local community member and are excited to award the grant,” says Tara Masters, TCSD Foundation President. “This grant will benefit the students in our district by fostering personal growth through an interest in music that we hope will have a lasting impact on their lives.”

Source: Ithaca Journal, Trumansburg Free Press

 

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Trumansburg Education Foundation
P.O. Box 486
Trumansburg, NY 14886-0486
contact@tburgedfoundation.org