Ann Arbor Public Schools Educational Foundation

Letter from the Foundation

From Wendy Correll, Executive Director

Christy Perros, AAPSEF Board Chair and Dr. Ben Edmondson, Scarlett Middle School Principal

As the calendar year draws to a close, I want to thank each of you who have supported the mission of the Educational Foundation, whether through financial support, volunteer efforts, in-kind support, or via community cheerleading.  Your contributions make a difference and together we are strengthening our community by ensuring that our Ann Arbor Public Schools remain strong in these challenging economic times.

Exactly how are your contributions making a difference?  By inspiring teachers to teach creatively with $35,000 in teacher grants (which will impact more than 9,000 students); by providing web-based writing literacy programs to students in all of our elementary schools, and beyond (My Access! is used by all fifth grade classes, and is expanding into some buildings to grades 4 – 10), by providing enrichment opportunities to all elementary students in the Ann Arbor Public Schools, and in other ways.  Nearly seventy five percent of AAPS students this year will be impacted by one or more programs you have funded! 

Community support for maintaining current valued programs and providing the opportunity for new, innovative programs, is imperative if we are to maintain our status as a nationally ranked public school system.  A reputation for quality public schools drives business to Ann Arbor and keeps existing businesses here.  
           

Christy Perros and Sara Aeschbach, Recreation & Education Director

I want to share with you my optimism for the ability of the Educational Foundation to continue making a difference in our community.  A second round of grants to teachers will be offered so that programs for the second half of the academic year can be supported; an alumni association for the Ann Arbor Public Schools will be created to engage alumni in supporting programs, reconnecting with staff and one another; improved opportunities for local businesses to support public education will be offered; and additional collaborative programs with other area non-profits, businesses and educational institutions will be developed.  The Board of Directors of the AAPSEF is personally committed to ensuring that the mission is advanced and that your contributions are stewarded appropriately.

On behalf of our Board of Directors, I say thank you for your support and we look forward to working with you in the year ahead.

Best regards,

Wendy Correll
Executive Director

Fund Fact

The Freeth Family Endowment Fund was established by Doug and Lucia Freeth in late 2002, following the graduation of their son, Andy Freeth from Colgate University.  Andy's older brother Tim had graduated from Princeton University in 1995.  Both boys had been students at Huron High School, where each played water polo and were members of the swimming team and had both earned the position of co-captains in their respective senior years.  They were also active in leadership positions in Student Council (Tim) and in class activities (Andy); each became members of the National Honor Society in their junior years.  Using the team-oriented lessons learned in high school, they continued their athletic endeavors in college - Tim participated in Water Polo and Andy was a distance swimmer. 

The years that Tim and Andy spent at Huron High School were well enjoyed.  They especially appreciated the diversity of the student body and the vast curriculum, which included a broadly based Humanities course offered in their senior year.  The lessons they learned in that course and during their entire four years at Huron aided them throughout their college years.

As a result of Tim and Andy’s affection for the River Rat experience, the Freeth Fund was created for the sole purpose of providing grants to projects at Huron High School.  Doug, Lucia, Tim, and Andy’s experience with the fund has been exceptionally rewarding and they are grateful to both the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation and the Ann Arbor Public Schools Educational Foundation for bringing this to fruition. 

They look forward to the grants which will be made in the future in recognition of opportunities to continue the tradition which has been established.

Please click here if you would like to donate to the Educational Foundation.

Testimonial

For six years, Pfizer Pharmaceuticals sponsored the Huron High School Science Extravaganza, an event that hosts approximately 250 Ann Arbor fifth grade students in a series of hands-on activities run by Huron High School.  When Pfizer recently closed the doors to their Ann Arbor location, we were unable to continue funding the event on our own.  Thankfully, the Ann Arbor Public Schools Educational Foundation with the Freeth Family Endowment Fund sponsored the Extravaganza last May and we were able to continue our tradition of celebrating science with both high school and elementary school students.

Organizing and putting on the Extravaganza is truly a cooperative venture.  There are four main teachers involved each year:  David Caine (Physics and AP Physics), Andrew Collins (AP Chemistry), Mara Krause (Biology and AP Biology) and myself, Don Yeatts (Physics).  We have approximately 150 to 175 Huron students who volunteer for the Extravaganza.  Most of these students are seniors who come back to Huron the day after their last official day of high school.  All they receive for this are a few cold cuts and the satisfaction of giving back to their school and seeing the amazement in the faces of the fifth grade students.  These Huron students get a chance to share some of what they have learned in their science courses with the fifth graders who come from Huron's feeder elementary schools.  Last year we had Huron Juniors from our AP Chemistry program running some of the stations who came to the Extravaganza as fifth graders the first year we held it.  We would like to believe that the Extravaganza contributed in some way to the interest those students have in science and their desire to take advanced science courses.

The second group of students who benefit from the Extravaganza are the fifth graders.  One of the main reasons for having this day is to involve the fifth graders in exciting hands-on science activities that will motivate them to do well in science at the middle school and high school levels.  It is especially significant that our Huron students host the fifth graders and explain the science behind the activities.  In the eyes of the fifth graders, science must be "cool" if these high school juniors and seniors are excited about it!  It is amazing, not to mention very rewarding, to see the  excitement of the fifth grade students as they go from station to station through the Extravaganza.  It is also rewarding to see the students that we have taught teaching and motivating the younger students. 

We again would like to give our thanks to the Freeths’ and to the AAPSEF for their support.  Putting on the Extravaganza takes a lot of work on the part of the organizing teachers, but even though we feel it is well worth the effort, it wouldn't be possible without the funds from the Foundation.