GRANTS - 2024
The District 230 Foundation helps staff at Sandburg, Stagg and Andrew High Schools bring their innovative ideas to life for students through its grant program. By providing nearly $500,000 to support more than 150 projects, the Foundation has made a significant impact on students' education.
Grants have supported social studies, art, foreign language, sports medicine, democracy, special services, science, literacy, college preparation, character development, international studies, environmental awareness, business, physical education, family and community connections, and so much more.
Hover over the photos below to learn more about the grants currently being implemented.
VJA Wellness Room Expansion
EL Parent Involvement
Sandburg High School
Amal Abdellatif
Students have higher achievement, increased graduation rates, improved attitudes toward school, and overall better well-being when parents and family are involved in their education. Action Plan for English Learning Parent Involvement will engage immigrant parents and remove barriers that prevent culturally diverse parents from feeling comfortable and connected to the school.
T-Bolt
Trailblazers
Career Exploration - Taking It To The Next Level
Andrew High School
James Malec & John Tadla
This project is designed to introduce students to well-established career paths that can provide success and satisfaction without a traditional four-year degree from a university.
Wentz Hall Concert
District-wide
Bob Mecozzi,
Stewart Bailey, Brian Hillhouse and Mark Iwinski
This concert band festival featuring three top curricular ensembles connects students with a professional collegiate music educator through clinics, a performance at the acclaimed Wentz Concert Hall in addition to professional recordings.
We Grow…Up The Ladder of Success
Sandburg High School
Kendra Jelcic
This program is a tiered motivation system for students who work in our school-wide businesses or hold jobs in the community but do not receive a traditional paycheck. The goal is for students to earn rewards each time they acquire different employability skills in a work environment; thereby encouraging optimal job performance while increasing confidence before they transition independently into the workforce.
VEX Robotics Kits
Andrew High School
Kristy Holben
This project will offer a hands-on opportunity for VJA students interested in a STEM career. It will fund the purchase of a classroom kit of robots for students to build and program. This will increase the limited resources for the Robotics Team and provide members with a tangible product and goal. It will also increase student success in mastering an extremely difficult skill.
Tri It Out!
Sandburg Sophomore PE Triathlon
Sandburg High School
Donna Driscoll
The goal of this project is to challenge students to try something new, develop various physical skills, work with partners, and stretch themselves out of their comfort zones with support from adults and peers. Student Triathlon through the Sophomore PE curriculum will provide training opportunities in class as well as enrichment opportunities during 2nd hour.
VJA Wellness Room Expansion
VJA Ambassadors
VJA Ambassadors is a student leadership organization that welcomes and guides transfer students. The program has grown to over 30 student leaders as the number of transfer students has increased to 100 or more per school year. This grant award will be used to expand the support of our new T-Bolts and provide our Ambassadors with the tools they need to continue to be strong leaders.
Andrew High School
Tammy Stamus, Jim Malec, Tom Fabrizio, Sarah Schultz
T-Bolt
Trailblazers
Developing Stagg Student Leaders
This project is an annual effort to increase future student leaders, allowing students to take ownership of school culture and climate to make a positive impact. A diverse group of selected 10th grade students from co-curricular programs will meet throughout the year and serve the school community and become trainers for the next group of identified student leaders.
Stagg High School
Nicole Leibfried/Shannon Mongan/Jen Doede/Mike Kealy/Matt Seibt/Jacob Fisher/Bob Mecozzi/Tim Conrath/Chris Wendelin/Deanna Fishel/Rich Kowalczyk/Tricia Biel
D230 College & Career Centers: Exploring Paths for All
District-wide
Erin Hawes/Sarah Schultz/Rich Kowalczyk/Lakeisha Kizer
The College and Career Center plans to increase the number of events that will provide students with the opportunity to hear from professionals in all aspects of college and career. They will learn about different options after high school and the requirements for each path. Events may include Speakers, Field Trips, Presentations and Workshops.
Growing Solutions
Sandburg High School
Jennifer Snyder
Students will use a hydroponic model to inspire new designs and solutions for sustainable methods for growing and producing food. Students will examine and compare the growing cycles, production, and biological mechanisms among plants in our traditional campus garden to the hydroponic garden. The project will determine how their creations can be potentially scaled for larger communities.