NEF Awards $36,000 in grants for the Northborough Schools

NEF awarded $36,000 in funds to 11 grant recipients in September of 2024.

Fundraisers in 2023-24 included the Applefest Gala, Holiday Warm Wishes, Team Trivia Night, and Golden Apple Teacher Appreciation Gifts. Proceeds from these events enabled NEF to fully or partially approve funding for the grants submitted this year. NEF funds two cornerstone grants each year which are the Northborough Children’s Book Awards (NCBA) and Read Across Northborough.

This year’s awarded grants are as follows:

Express YourSELF – Melican Middle School – Julie Morancy
This project is aimed at enhancing the Social-Emotional Learning Foundations (SELF) curriculum at Melican Middle School. It includes the purchase of resources like books and games to promote empathy, civil discourse, and critical thinking through debates. theater, and poetry activities. Reading short excerpts from plays, for example, allows students to step into another person’s shoes, while learning the art of debate helps them analyze perspectives in a respectful and responsible way. This initiative will benefit all 600+ students at the school by expanding learning beyond the classroom and fostering a more socially aware student community.

Learning Ally: Audio Learning Support for Elementary & ARHS Students – All
Elementary Schools & ARHS – Megan Kelty, Kimberly Honey
These two grants will provide universal access to audiobooks for students at all of our elementary schools and Algonquin Regional High School. The project seeks to reduce barriers to learning by offering human-read audiobooks and textbooks through Learning Ally. This service will support independent reading, diverse learning styles, and the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) practice. The grant covers school-wide subscriptions at all five schools and will benefit over 2,000 students by increasing access to curriculum materials, thereby fostering a more inclusive educational environment.

Visualizing Math: Empowering Thinking in Math Classrooms – Melican Middle School – Melissa Jameson, Laura From, Christine Lincoln
This grant will enhance math education at Melican Middle School by providing ten
gridded whiteboards each for three classrooms. These whiteboards will support the new math curriculum and the Building Thinking Classrooms model promoting risk-taking and collaborative learning. As students work in small groups at the whiteboards to solve problems they will make connections, identify patterns, and grasp complex ideas through active engagement and participation.

Read Across Northborough – All Elementary Schools – Clare Kelsey
The month of March is dedicated to celebrating reading around our nation. The National Education Association (NEA) promotes the love of reading across the country with its “Read Across America Through Colorful Pages” initiative. This event involves inviting members of our community (high school students, business owners, educators, and others) to visit our classrooms to share books and engage in meaningful conversations. To make this event a success, the Northborough elementary school librarians will purchase chapter books and picture books to be read in each classroom that convey positive, inclusive messages. The books will become part of the elementary library collections after the reading event for everyone to enjoy. The Northborough Education Foundation is proud to support this Cornerstone Grant each year.

Edubots: Learning Through Innovation – Melican Middle School- Megan Puopolo
This grant is aimed at integrating robotics into the curriculum at Melican Middle School. The addition of Cubelet Modular Robots into the curriculum will enhance STEM education and develop 21st-century skills among students. These intuitive modular robots will be used across various subjects to encourage creativity, problem-solving, and digital literacy. Students will develop valuable computer science and computational skills while building robots to perform different tasks, and the scalable complexity of the robots make them ideal for our diverse learning community. The project includes professional development for educators and ongoing maintenance. The program will involve the entire school community, providing long-term educational benefits and fostering collaboration with other schools.

CareerForge ERM – ARHS – Michelle Kaelin
This program is the next step in strengthening career exploration and work-based learning experiences for students at Algonquin Regional High School. This grant provides for the immediate implementation of CareerForge ERM, and employer relations management platform designed to track and manage engagements with employers and community partners. This platform will support job shadow and internship programs, guest speaker sessions, and other professional interactions, ultimately benefiting students’ career development.

Northborough Children’s Book Award (NCBA) – Northborough Free Library & All Elementary Schools – Racheal Hutchins
The NCBA is a collaboration between teachers and librarians aimed at inspiring all 3rd, 4th and 5th-grade students to read great literature that develops their individual literacy skills. In the fall, knowledgeable school and public librarians from Northborough gather together to deliberate and vote for at least 12 recently published book titles that serve as the nominees for the awards. Multiple paperback copies of these titles are purchased and divided between all of the Northborough elementary schools as well as the town’s public library. Students who read at least 3 of the selected titles can vote for their favorite at either the public library or during their library classes in school. In June, votes are tallied and the winning author is notified. The Northborough Education Foundation is proud to support this Cornerstone Grant each year.

Ozobots for Learning – All Elementary Schools – Elisabeth Parron
This grant provides for 18 small, programmable robots called Ozobots at each of the four elementary schools. These robots will introduce students to coding and
computational thinking through engaging, hands-on activities. The project aims to
enhance STEM education, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills, while promoting collaboration among students and integrating digital literacy into the curriculum. The grant will also fund professional development for teachers to help them effectively incorporate Ozobots into their lessons, ensuring sustainability and long-term educational benefits.

Adventure Course Harnesses – ARHS – Brian Lawson
The Adventure Course at Algonquin is a ropes course that all 11th and 12th graders participate in as part of the Health & Fitness curriculum. This grant will allow for the replacement of older rope harnesses with pre-made harnesses for student use. This change will enhance safety, comfort, and efficiency, allowing students more climbing time and opportunities for collaboration and teamwork. The project involves all students as part of the Health and Fitness curriculum, ensuring long-term benefits through proper care.

Emotional Regulation Strategies – Melican Middle School – Jennifer Johnson
This grant supports a system that will increase students’ ability to engage in positive emotional regulation strategies at Melican Middle School. The project involves obtaining items such as iPads, sensory tools, and calming posters along with subscriptions to two well-researched apps, Mightier and Headspace, to support students in managing stress, anxiety, and other emotional challenges. The initiative seeks to provide structured coping strategies, reducing the time students spend outside the classroom and promoting lifelong habits.