The York Suburban Education Foundation (YSEF) is pleased to announce it has awarded 12 grants totaling $39,993.58 through its 2021-2022 Grant program.

Live Demo Video Setup
Korbin Shearer (York Suburban High School)
With the funds from this grant, students will be better able to view live demonstrations in the York Suburban High School’s Applied Engineering and Technology Department using an AV cart, TV display, and action camera. Amount awarded: $648.00

YSMS Virtual Learning Carts
Michael Snedden and Michael Jackson (York Suburban Middle School)
The funds from this grant will equip York Suburban Middle School with two virtual learning carts to enhance the online virtual learning experiences of students. The equipment will enhance the sound and video quality of asynchronous and synchronous lessons and allow the teacher to move around more naturally during the instruction. Amount awarded: $10,310.90

Hydroponics
Kathleen Green, Jared Moore, and Nancy Karkoska (York Suburban Middle School)
This grant will fund the design and build of a hydroponics garden growing a crop of the students’ choice at the York Suburban Middle School. The hydroponics garden will be a multi-disciplinary, hands on approach to learn about design, construction, and seventh grade science lessons, such as plant processes, heredity and genetics, and ecosystems. Amount awarded: $3,000.00

GrowUp Greenwall
Jared Moore and Linda Slenker (York Suburban Middle School)
The funds from this grant will be used to purchase a greenwall for the York Suburban Middle School. Plants are provided by the YSMS Greenspace program. Once the greenwall is installed by the students in the Applied Engineering and Technology program, the students will partner with science teachers to learn more about plants and how to best sustain this greenwall project. Amount awarded: $1,399.00

STEM Outdoor Garden and Classroom
Kathleen Green, Jared Moore, Nancy Karkoska, and Tac Thomas (York Suburban Middle School)
This grant will facilitate the transition of the York Suburban Middle School courtyard into a STEM outdoor garden and classroom with the implementation of retractable shade pergolas to produce shade in designated areas for plant growth and reduce the sun’s glare on the students’ monitors to better enable learning. Amount awarded: $3,500.00

Mind and Body Wellness
Kellie Aughenbaugh (Valley View Elementary and Yorkshire Elementary Schools)
With the funds from this grant, second grade students at Valley View and Yorkshire Elementary Schools will be able to engage their minds and bodies as well as encourage and enhance socialization opportunities through the use of hands-on learning and exercise activities. This grant is partially funded by YSEF’s Richard Guyer Endowment Fund held at the York County Community Foundation. Amount awarded: $4,291.68

Play to Learn
Kim Kimpel and Marilyn Henning (Yorkshire Elementary and Valley View Elementary Schools)
Through team planning, group activities, and guided play, the 2nd grade team of teachers will provide 2nd graders at Yorkshire and Valley View Elementary Schools with opportunities to engage in various subjects through the combined use of books and corresponding materials. For example, students will learn more about architectural structures through a station with books about architecture, engineering, and building accompanied by paper, pencils, rulers, and blocks. Or, students can learn about art and its different mediums through books along with clay, drawing paper/pencils, and paints. Or, students can discover science through scientific notebooks and nonfiction magazines while also playing with microscopes, magnifying glasses, funnels, kitchen scales, and eye droppers. Amount awarded: $2,130.00

Hope Squad
Miranda King (York Suburban Middle School and York Suburban High School)
The funding from this grant will be utilized for Hope Week at the York Suburban Middle School and the York Suburban High School and provide students with materials to spread awareness of the Hope Squad and its mission. The Hope Squad is a peer nominated, student-led initiative to help students who are struggling with mental health issues. Faculty advisors as well as students on the Hope Squad are all trained and attend retreats to continue learning strategies to help fellow students dealing with mental health issues. This grant is partially funded by YSEF’s Jeffrey D. Sindicich Endowment Fund held at the York County Community Foundation. The fund is in memory of Jeffrey Sindicich, 1986 York Suburban graduate. Amount awarded: $2,500.00

PBIS in Elementary Schools
Tawn Ketterman (Valley View, Yorkshire, Indian Rock, and East York Elementary Schools)
This grant will provide funds equally to each of the four elementary schools to promote positive behavior in each elementary school by implementing a tiered intervention process to identify and address students’ needs that affect behaviors. Amount awarded: $4,000.00

Utilizing Technology to Advance Student Evaluations:
Sydney Tucker (District-Wide)
This grant’s funds will provide the School Psychologist and the School Psychology Intern with four iPads to be used for psychoeducational evaluations. Purchasing the iPads will allow the evaluators access to digital versions of the cognitive, academic, and neuropsychological assessments. The digital versions of the assessments will provide a more efficient and expedited assessment process for the evaluators thereby allowing more students to be tested in a more timely and less obtrusive manner. Amount awarded: $1,346.00

Hands on Brains
Christopher Rumbaugh (York Suburban High School)
This grant focuses on enhancing a student’s understanding of the brain anatomy and functionality by allowing students to disassemble, manipulate, and reassemble a 3-D model of a human skull, brain, eye, and ear. These models will be utilized in the York Suburban High School’s Psychology and Advanced Placement Psychology courses. Amount awarded: $2,868.00

EYES on the Future
Julie Stover (East York and Indian Rock Elementary Schools)
The funds from this grant will support a new club, EYES on the Future, at East York and Indian Rock Elementary Schools. This club will expose students to diverse people, place, and careers allowing them to see opportunities to which they might aspire. Amount awarded: $4,000.00