Issaquah Schools Foundation announces grants recipients

Five Issaquah and Sammamish schools were given grants.

May 29, 2018 8:30 am

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

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.

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.

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.

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.