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Author: Marcia Hamelin

Challenge Success Grant for Weston High School

Building upon the success of the Link Crew program (initially funded by WEF in 2022), Weston High School is partnering with Challenge Success for the 2024-25 school year (https://challengesuccess.org/). In June of 2024, WEF awarded a $5,000 grant to help fund this partnership.

Challenge Success (CS) is a non-profit affiliated with the Stanford University Graduate School of Education. CS assists school districts in assessing needs and implementing research-based, equity-centered strategies to improve student well-being and support healthy classroom environments.

Weston Garden Club Legacy Donation

After many, many years of serving the Weston community, the Weston Garden Club decided in 2024 to wind down their operations. WEF is grateful to be the recipient of a legacy donation in the amount of $3,051.35 from the Garden Club, to be used for the purpose of supporting gardening-related programming, including environmental sustainability and related activities throughout the Weston Public School District, both in the classroom and through extracurricular activities.

WEF Helps Fund New Hurlbutt MakerSpace

In March 2024, WEF awarded a grant of $23,087 to Hurlbutt Elementary School to help fund the transformation of the old computer lab into a MakerSpace. This grant was made in partnership with the Hurlbutt PTO, which provided additional funding.

The grant will fund the purchase of flexible furniture specifically geared toward STEM activities. As described by HES Librarian Sharon Rodko, the new MakerSpace will enable students to collaborate, engage in critical thinking, improve their communication skills, and enhance their creativity. Additionally, Ms. Rodko will work with classroom teachers to assist them in implementing their own plans or projects in the MakerSpace.

The Harlem Wizards return November 18 – save the date!

The Harlem Wizards are coming back to town to face our own teachers – Weston’s Brainy Bunch – on Saturday, November 18 @4pm in the high school gym. All net proceeds will be devoted to school-based grants. Don’t miss out! Last year’s event was a sellout.

Get your tickets at this link or scan the QR code below: https://pretix.eu/harlemwizards/westonct11-18-23-04-00pm/

WEF Board members tour Coley House

WEF Board members were delighted to tour the newly reopened Coley House last weekend. Weston Historical Society Executive Director Samantha Kulish-Fargione led the tour of the historic home, which now focuses on how the Coley family would have experienced life in the 1940s. Members also stopped by the wayfaring sign that was completed in 2020 with the help of a WEF community education grant from November 2018.

Community conversation about diversity, equity and inclusion

WEF is proud to co-sponsor this important community conversation about diversity, equity and inclusion in Weston. Please join into the discussion, led by KJR Consulting, on either Saturday, October 1 or Saturday, October 22. Register by following this link:

https://reg.learningstream.com/view/cal10a.aspx?ek=&ref=&aa=&sid1=&sid2=&as=49&wp=247&tz=&ms=&nav=&cc=&cat1=&cat2=&cat3=&aid=KJR&rf=&pn=

Thank you to all of the wonderful people who donated to our Racial Justice Education Fund and made this event possible!

 

Weston Walks 2022 kicks off today!

Donations will be gratefully accepted throughout July

Weston Walks 2022 is officially off and running (or walking)!

Please join us in honoring our school community by participating in our virtual walkathon to raise money for future school-based grants. Run, jog, hike, or walk indoors or out, according to your own schedule. You can join our fundraising team or start your own.

Scan the QR code above or text WESTONWALKS2022 to 44-321 to get started.

Our path is sometimes rough, sometimes steep … but Weston walks together!

WEF Presents 2022 David Trigaux Award to two WHS teachers

 

June 2022 –

WEF was honored to present our 2022 David Trigaux Innovation Award to two wonderful teachers at Weston High School – English teacher Ionna Opidee and Environmental Science teacher Michael Aitkenhead.

Ms. Opidee has had a far-ranging impact on both students and staff through her innovative approach to teaching and learning in English classes and the Writing Center. Among many other efforts, she created an Identity, Culture and Society unit for English 10 Honors, as well as an Environmental Literature and Justice unit using Mona Hanna-Attisha’s book “What the Eyes Don’t See” – a text originally provided through a WEF grant. She was also instrumental in bringing to WHS a national poetry competition called Poetry Out Loud in which WHS sophomore Billy Stammer became the 2022 CT State Champion. Running through all her professional efforts is a thoughtful and caring focus on helping students reach their true potential in the manner most accessible to them. In her words, “it is a way of approaching each aspect of my work with the intention to serve and support all students holistically — not just as learners of content standards, but as full, dynamic human beings on a journey toward understanding themselves, their world, and others so that they can shape themselves, and their world, more mindfully, more deliberately, and with more care.”

Mr. Aitkenhead – fondly known in the WHS community as “Michael Recycle” – is a treasure trove of environmental knowledge, care, and creativity for both Weston High School and the larger community. He has transformed the content and approach of the Environmental Science courses at WHS and has created a new class for 2022-23 called “Sustainable Solutions”, which will enable students to identify and tackle real-world environmental problems in the community. In his view, in this new class “students will develop the skills of problem solving by actually solving real problems, and in the process, they will completely transform our school.” Mr. Aitkenhead was aptly described by Science & Tech Curricular Instructional Leader Jamie Charles as “an incredibly passionate, engaging and motivating teacher who strives to bring his curriculum to life for his students in ways that inspire them to be agents of change in the world.” While Mr. Aitkenhead’s accomplishments are too numerous to mention in full, one connecting thread is always a deep commitment to the environment and a belief in our youth as the vectors of change.

WEF applauds 2022 David Trigaux Award winners Ms. Opidee and Mr. Aitkenhead, two shining examples of creativity and innovation in teaching!