The Ames Education Foundation (AEF) has five seasons; Fall, Winter, Spring, Summer, and ALUMNI!
Fall, winter, spring, and summer are familiar to all of us! What about Alumni season?
I’d like to share something about each season. The Alumni season is interesting – Wow! Alumni season is year round. Once you are an Ames High Alumni, you are always an alumni. The busy alumni season seemed to be at peak during June through September. I’ll share the rest of my alumni season comments for later, as I want to save the best for last!
Spring is a great place to start, as it often represents “new”. In the spring AEF had a campaign called SOS (Support Our Students). This campaign was to raise funds for supplies for students in need. The school counselors worked to identify students who needed assistance with purchasing supplies. The counselors in the Ames Community Schools are very good at what they do. The school district is fortunate to have their knowledge, compassion, expertise, and most important their insight. This program helps families who might be struggling financially. With the help of families, alumni, individuals, the community, and businesses, $12,000 was raised.
The bulk of this money was spent on supplies for students. The counselors work to coordinate this. The money is raised every spring and then used in late summer and fall for these “back to school” supplies. When I had one counselor ask if they could buy a pair of socks for a child, this was the season, which put a tear in my eye.
The summer season at AEF involved a lot of planning and coordinating for the seasons to come!
The fall season involves a campaign called Mini-Grant (MG). This particular campaign raises funds for the needs a teacher may have in their classroom. The teachers fill out a MG application, and then a committee will meet in December to select grant recipients. The goal of course, is to fund as many needs as possible for these teachers. One example of something that was funded last year was a specialized microscope for the high school science department. The microscope came with a camera capable of producing live images.
Fall has also been busy with 100’s Club. This club is still in the process of building more members. This is about 100 women coming together to raise $100k for Leveled Readers. Leveled Readers is a top funding priority in our school district. This is a specialty library of books used in the elementary classrooms which provides a math, science, or history book – at “just the right level” for individual students. See photo.
Now for Alumni Season!! I attended many alumni events and tours. I went on most of your high school tours with Bill Ripp. On one tour I almost felt like an alumni when someone wanted to know if I was in math class with them.
What I liked most about Alumni Season was You! I enjoyed meeting all of you and I really enjoyed your stories. I remember some alumni telling me where P.E. class was held, or how they had to swim and retrieve a coin from the bottom of the swimming pool as a graduation requirement.
Thank you for including me on many of your events. Thanks for your special stories you shared about your class, yourself, and your family.
Alumni Season! What a wonderful season!
Thanks to many of you for your continued support of the Ames Education Foundation which helps the Ames Community School District!
Thank you for being one of the Five Seasons of the Ames Education Foundation!
- Former contributor of AEF
