D300 Foundation for Educational Excellence

News

Current Press Releases

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Dr. Scarpino reads in character as Big Anthony to children at Barnes & Noble on Black Friday.

Barnes & Noble Book Fair on Black Friday

A big THANK YOU to Dr. David Scarpino for donning the Big Anthony costume from Strega Nona by Tomi DePaola.  Dr. Scarpino participated in the Barnes and Noble Book Fair on Black Friday as the guest reader.  In preparation he contacted the elementary librarians and asked that they send him their favorite books so the children could pick from the group.  It was a wonderful 45 minutes.  Thanks to all our volunteers who helped wrap patron's gifts that day.  Barnes & Noble has been an excellent partner to the Foundation for years.  We thank them for their continued support.   Mary Fioretti, Chairman

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Mary Fioretti, Chairman & Deb Kelley, VP Development recieve $1000 IASBO donation from Dr. Crates

Foundation in the News

D300 Finance Officer Awards Foundation $1000 IASBO Monarach Gift

Dr. Cheryl Crates, District 300 Finance Officer, was awarded the prestigious 2008 Monarch Award from the Illinois Association of School Business Officials (IASBO).  As part of the award, IASBO awarded $1,000 to the D300 Foundation in Crates’ name for student leadership initiatives.

May 2008
Chair Receives 2008 Public Education Ambassador Award

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DOE Christine Cohn presents INSPRA award to Chairman Fioretti with Dr. Arndt

District 300 Foundation Chairman Mary Fioretti earned the very highest honor among 40 impressive nominees as 2008 Public Education Ambassador of the Year for the entire state of Illinois.  The judging committee determined that Fioretti was the epitome of “distinguished service to public education.”  The Distinguished Service Awards program is facilitated by INSPRA (the Illinois Chapter of the National School Public Relations Association).

Daily Herald:
The Briefs: Foundation honors alumni
March 26, 2008
Five alumni of Community Unit District 300 will be honored this year at the District 300 Foundation's annual award ceremony spring gala. Each year, the foundation chooses District 300 graduates or former students who have achieved success in their field or engaged in community service to receive the Distinguished Alumni Award. This year's recipients are: Donna Schuring Redmer, a former District 300 principal; Laro Tan, who works for the FBI; political reporter Bethany Jaeger; Dundee Township Park District Commissioner Craig Rakow; and former athlete Kevin Orr. The gala will be at 6 p.m. on April 25 at the Raue Center for the Arts in Crystal Lake.

Courier News
News Digest   March 23, 2008
School District 300
Alumni to be honored

The Community Unit School District 300 Foundation will honor five outstanding alumni with Distinguished Alumni Awards at the annual Award Ceremony Spring Gala at 6 p.m. April 25 at the Raue Center for the Arts in Crystal Lake. Awards are given to alumni over 30 years old who have made significant accomplishments in their profession or service to the community. Alumni were nominated by people within the community who have been affected by the recipients' work. The recipients are Craig Rakow, Dr. Donna Schuring Redmer, Kevin Orr and Laro Tan. The recipient of the Distinguished Young Alumni Award is Bethany Carson Jaeger. Tickets for the event are available at www.rauecenter.org. For more information on the recipients and the awards visit www.d300foundation.org.


March 5, 2008

D300 Foundation Honors Alumni Award Recipients


CARPENTERSVILLE- This year the District 300 Foundation will get a chance to honor five of the outstanding alumni that have graduated from the District 300 schools.  The distinguished alumni Award is granted to a District 300 graduate or former student over the age of 30 for significant accomplishments on ones profession or service to the community.  These people are making a difference not only in their world, but also in the worlds of the people around them.  These alumni have been nominated by different people within the community that have been touched directly by their work and seen their passion and enthusiasm up close.  The Foundation was excited to be able to choose these five recipients on March 5th.  The winners will be formally honored on Friday, April 25th at the Annual Award Ceremony Spring Gala. 

The five recipients of the Distinguished Alumni Award are; Craig Rakow, Dr. Donna Shuring Redmer, Kevin Orr, and Laro Tan.  The recipient of the Distinguished Young Alumni is Bethany (Carson) Jaeger.

Click here to read the entire press release on the Distinguished Alumni Awards

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Author Yuyi Morales



Yuyi Morales Visit
The Foundation underwrote
the author illustrator
Yuyi Morales to visit with
Lakewood and Hampshire
students. 
See our Adobe slide
show here>>

1st Annual Golf Outing Pictures photo album visit here.

Read Across America Day

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The Foundation and LEAD present all D300 Schools with new books to their libraries.

The D300 Foundation and the D300 Teachers Union (LEAD)  celebrated Read Across America Day on March 2, 2009 by donating the book Be Glad Your Nose is on Your Face by Children's Poet Laureate Jack Prelutsky to every elementary school library across District 300 including deLacy and the Charter school.  Together with the Teachers Union LEAD, which will be donating the Twilight series of books to the middle school and high school libraries, have collaborated to celebrate literacy.  
  
Literacy is a core program of the Foundation.  The goal is to increase the desire to read.    Be Glad Your Nose is on Your Face is a delightful book filled with 100 poems that will make any young reader finish the book till dawn.  
Jack Prelutsky has tips on how to read to small children. 

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As a recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award Craig was featured in a Dundee Journal May 2008 article that covered his lifes work in leadership and service to his community. 

December 5, 2007

District 300 Foundation Awards Trustee Grant to Gary D. Wright Elementary

CARPENTERSVILLE – On December 5, 2007 the Board of Trustees awarded to Mr. Don Wicker and the Gary D. Wright Elementary a Trustee Grant.  A Trustee Grant is only awarded when the grant request does not fall within the cycle of a Large Grant or Innovation Grant cycle.  This was all made possible by a very generous donation made by the W. R. Meadows Company in Hampshire.
     The grant proposal falls within the mission of the Foundation as well as supports one of tenants of the Foundation which is Student Leadership.  The Wee Grant creates a small town atmosphere within the school providing civic jobs of which the students must apply.  The students learn life skills through applying for the positions and performing their jobs.

november 7, 2007
Dundee Highlands awarded Foundation Trustee Grant



11/7/07 - Dundee Highlands Elementary was awarded a Trustee Grant at the November Trustee Meeting.  The Foundation's Performing and Fine Arts Committee submitted a proposal for the all school project at Dundee Highlands.  Based on the overall uniqueness and interdisciplinary content of the project, Foundation trustee's awarded the TARGET Fine Arts Grant to Dundee Highlands.

November 16, 2007

New Leadership at District 300 Foundation for Educational Excellence

CARPENTERSVILLE – On September 5, 2008 newly elected Trustees were seated on the District 300 Foundation. Mary Fioretti, Institute for Continued Learning Coordinator at Roosevelt University, was elected as Chairman along with co-chair Joseph Cavallaro, Village Manager of West Dundee, who served two years and Chairman. Rita Lintzeris, branch manager of the Harris Bank in Algonquin was elected as Treasurer. Kristi Stern, Program Director of Main Stay Therapeutic Riding Program in Richmond, was elected as Secretary and retains her Public Relations position.

Elections and appointments for committee chairs also took place. Sara Foster, Allstate Insurance Six Sigma Manager, was elected as Vice Chair of Projects, Deborah Kelley was elected as Vice Chair of Development, William Ganek, Village Manager of Algonquin, Chair of Nominations, Barbara Hansen, retired Arts Educator, retains her chair for the Performing and Fine Arts Committee, Deborah Sosine, Algonquin Village Trustee, retains her chair for the Science and Technology Committee. New member William Uhl, recently retired principal from District 300 was appointed the Literacy Committee Chair. New members Matthew Voss, President of Northern Illinois Mortgage, and David Ward, President of Algonquin Bank and Trust, were appointed co-chairs of the Student Leadership committee. New member Dennis Cleveland, retired District 300 educator, has been appointed to serve on the Projects Committee and is overseeing the new initiative Distinguished Educator of the Year Award.

October 16, 2007

District 300 Foundation Establishes Public Arts Initiative to Benefit the Innovative Programs of the Foundation

CARPENTERSVILLE – A new Public Art Project, DesksonParade is being organized by the District 300 Foundation and underwritten by a variety of individual and corporate sponsors.  Local artists are invited to submit proposals that demonstrate their imagination and artistic talent to transform a 1960’s old school desk into a work of art.  Proposals will be juried and the winning artists will be given an old desk to paint or resurface.  Completed desks will be displayed in the community next spring and auctioned off online till April 30th

Money raised will support the Foundation’s Grant Program which redirects the funds to local schools.

If you are an interested artist or sponsor please visit DesksonParade  on the Foundation website at www.D300Foundation.org for specific information, applications and submission deadlines.

 

 Monday, March 8, 2010  

  

    

D300 Foundation to send 3 high school students to national leadership conference 

  

  

Three exceptional young men will have the opportunity of a lifetime later this month when they 

attend the National Young Leaders Conference, proudly representing the District 300 

Foundation for Educational Excellence. 

  

The D300 Foundation will send one junior from each D300 high school to the conference March 23-28 in Washington D.C. 

They are Kwamayne King (DundeeCrown High School),ChristopherEgger (Hampshire High School), 

and Stephen Lenzini (Jacobs High School). These applicants were chosen based on 

factors including a list of school activities, out of school activites, school/community awards, leadership 

experience, an essay on a leader that made an impression, a statement of future goals, and letters of 

recommendation. Additionally, each of these students has a special story to share in overcoming the 

odds against them in pursuit of excellence.  

  

Liz Miller, co-chair of fund development for the D300 Foundation, said young people today 

face an entire new set of challenges compared to the generation before them.   

  

“Kwamayne, Chris, and Stephen all possess the inner-spark necessary to face the 

challenges,” Miller said. “Any part the Foundation can play in helping to identify and encourage

these young leaders in an ever‐changing world is something to which we truly want to 

commit ourselves.” 

  

The Algonquin Commons Shopping Center will host a reception for the students at 6 p.m. 

tomorrow (Tuesday, March 9) at the Barley House.  The news media are welcome and 

encouraged to attend.  Attendees will also include Superintendent Ken Arndt and several 

Foundation Board trustees. 

Jim Pratt, the Foundation’s student leadership chair and senior property manager of The 

Algonquin Commons, worked with some of the D300 high school division heads to 

award the grants.  The divisionals involved were Alan Wahlert (Dundee-Crown High 

School), Marce Kersten (Jacobs High School), and Geoffrey Falk (Hampshire High

 School). 

  

The D300 Foundation Leadership Grant covers the conference tuition, lodging, breakfasts, 

dinners, curriculum materials, and private motor coach transportation within the Washington 

D.C. area for the D300 young leaders.  The local Rhodes Foundation generously provided 

funding for the D300 students’ transportation to and from the conference.  D300 Foundation 

Board members also stepped forward to personally pay for the students’ lunches at the 

conference so they will have virtually no out‐of‐pocket expenses. 

  

The D300 School Board will honor these young men at an upcoming Board meeting.  The students will  

also be invited to appear on a future D300 radio talk‐show to reflect on their experiences at the  

conference.  Stay tuned for dates and times of these two appearances. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The mission of the District 300 Foundation for Educational Excellence is to seek and make available resources that enhance and extend learning opportunities for all of its students.