State of the Art

 

An excellent education provides children with the opportunity to achieve their personal best. The SAISD Foundation acts in partnership with San Antonio ISD by stepping in to fill the gap that state/district funding does not or can not support. Often those gaps are in the Arts and in STEM. Through educator grants, teachers are able to unlock infinite possibilities for students in SAISD as they explore new mediums and embrace new educational tools. 

 

Each year hundreds of teachers apply for grants, both large and small, that present their creative ideas to enhance student experiences both inside and outside of classrooms. All approved grant winners work to implement their projects, once they are able to have them up and running for a meaningful amount of time, a semester for grants at $5,000 and a month for grants at $500, they are asked to assess and report student impact. These evaluations include both quantitative and qualitative data that is pivotal in identifying the strongest projects to work with the district and investors to expand.

 

The artwork featured at the top and bottom of this newsletter is the product of one such grant. Art teacher Gabriel Morales applied for a grant to support a course of study new to SAISD, Mexican American Studies in Art (M.A.S. Art). One of the classroom projects involved students making a modern version of Nierikas. Originally created as offerings to the spirit world, Nierikas are a world famous art form from the Wixarika (Huichol) culture of Mexico. Students in Mr. Morales' class were given guidelines that their work had to express at least one of the following themes: nature, dreams, the spirit world, sacred geometry, or personal symbology. Several pieces are currently on display at the district central office and more are displayed at the University of Incarnate Word.

 

Educator grant awardee Jennifer Arce, Art teacher at Lanier High School, received a grant to add printmaking to her course. With new woodblock printing equipment, students created prints that expressed their views of the effects of gentrification on the Westside. Their artwork featured below is currently on display at the Progreso Community Gallery on Guadalupe just west of downtown. 

 

Research conducted by the Texas Cultural Trust shows that academic achievement, attendance, and graduation rates are significantly higher when students are engaged in the Arts. SAISD graduation data also confirms this research. Art teachers also report that programs like these build student confidence, identity, new skills and creativity. 

Meet Project Prom Dress Founder Ashley Johnson

Ashley Johnson grew up in a single-parent household. When it came time to outfit herself for prom when she was a student Fox Tech High School she had to take a part-time job to pay for her dress and all of the extras. She graduated from Fox Tech in 2002. 

 

Fast forward to 2011 when Ashley saw a news story about an organization doing a one-time event to give away prom dresses. This event got her thinking, “I bet there are a lot of nice dresses just sitting in closets.” In 2014, she and her husband officially launched “Project Prom Dress” in the dining room of their apartment. Currently, Ashley has over 3,000 dresses to give away! She is grateful to the San Antonio community for their generous donations. 

 

To recognize her service, the San Antonio ISD Board of Trustees honored Ashely with the "You Make a Difference Award" earlier this month. At the SAISD Foundation we are lifelong cheerleaders for SAISD alumni and especially those that give back to students as Ashley does in so many ways. #SAISDProud Do you know someone we should feature? Contact us.

 

Continue reading about Ashley on our Facebook page and here in the SAISD Insider.

 

Ashley Johnson with her collection of dresses. Photo credit: John Lawler, SAISD

STEM: Robotics Edition

At the SAISD Foundation, expanding student experiences by supporting the growth of STEM programs is a key element of our strategic plan. Through our educator grant programs over the past fifteen years, we have funded teachers who requested to launch and or expand  elementary, middle school or high school robotics programs. This year, we were excited to partner with SAISD Career and Technical Education (CTE) in their work to launch an SAISD district-wide competition to enhance these foundational and growing programs. We were especially excited about the growth in middle school programs and we look forward to helping CTE expand future competitions by engaging LOTC (middle school) & JROTC (high school) programs as well as new robotics programs forming in SAISD academies. Read more about this year's district-wide tournament and the growth of robotics in SAISD here.

 

In this scholarship season, we are reminded in students' essays of the power school-based robotics programs have had in eliciting interest in STEM careers like Mechanical Engineering.

Educator Grants Investments SY 2021-2022

Thanks to the generosity of our donors, we have awarded over $250,000 in educator grants to date for the 2021-2022 school year, including grants for the following STEM initiatives in partnership with SAISD's Ed Tech and Science Departments: 3-D printing, soil gardens, and hydroponics. To learn more about how Educator Grants like these are making an impact, please visit https://www.saisdfoundation.com/educator-grant-impact.

 

The chart below identifies the variety of types of educator grants we have awarded to date. The 460 total grants also includes the 93 Teacher of the Year (TOTY) awardees announced this week. Each TOTY receives a small supply grant from the SAISD Foundation and SAISD's Human Capital Management and the overall district winners receive a $500 grant from the SAISD Foundation. We are especially proud of the dozens of teachers of the year who have also applied for and been awarded grants from us for their innovative ideas! Although only one of our grant types are labeled "innovative" what our teachers can do with our smaller mini-grants and other grants definitely deserve the title of innovation as well. OUR TEACHERS ARE AMAZING! We are proud to be investing in them in so many ways!

Book Drives for Book Buddies

Each school year we deliver tens of thousands of books to students in SAISD through our Book Buddies program. This endeavor would not be possible without donations of books and our hard-working volunteers. Book Buddies regularly accepts donated books from company-sponsored, school-based, or community-wide book drives.  We want to show our appreciation to the following groups for organizing book drives this spring. THANK YOU!

• Port SA and SAMSAT collected beautiful books through a month-long book drive.
• St. Luke's Episcopal School conducted a book drive in remembrance of lifelong educator Cathy Cummins.
• The Alamo Heights Junior School 6th grade boys service club invited us to speak about the Book Buddies program. They also led a school-wide book drive resulting in much needed books for 5th graders.
• SASO (Scholars & Athletes Serving Others) Mother/Son service organization has been volunteering over at our warehouse for years and are conducting a book drive in May.

Would you like to host a book drive in your neighborhood, church, business, or school? We have great need for books appropriate for 3rd - 5th grade students as well as culturally relevant books and books in Spanish. Visit saisdfoundation.com/book-buddies to find our “How to Organize a Successful Book Drive for Book Buddies” toolkit.

 

Already Looking for Ways to Reduce Next Year's Tax Burden?

 

Recently feeling the pain of writing a check to the IRS? There are a number of ways to make contributions to a 501 (c) 3 organization like the SAISD Foundation that may help in reducing your tax burden for 2022. Below are a few of the ways that our donors have been able to reduce theirs. Interested in learning more? Email jgeelhoed@saisdfoundation.com or call 210-554-2235. Already have a plan and just need our information? San Antonio Foundation for Excellence in Education, Inc. dba SAISD Foundation Tax ID 74-2861587.

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