News : Renewed energy and purpose: School Foundation President Teresa Meyer

Saxophone donated by Heidi Popelka Jones

Several years ago I was asked to serve on the board of the Vinton Shellsburg Community School District Foundation. As a former educator and someone deeply concerned about the opportunities young people will have in the future, I was excited about
the opportunity to serve. If we are to provide our young people with the tools they need to flourish and to become productive contributors to an improved quality of life for everyone, we must provide them with all the resources we can.

For those who aren’t familiar with the Foundation, it was formed in 1998 as a 501-C3 charitable organization to “maintain, develop, increase and extend the facilities and services of the school district”. The Foundation is independent of the school district though the district is represented by the Superintendent of Schools and the president of the school board. For a complete listing of board members and more information about the Foundation, please visit our website at www.vscsdfoundation.org.

In the past the Foundation has been highly focused on scholarships and serving as a tax-deductible entity for contributions to larger projects like the animal learning lab. As part of my emphasis as the new board president, and in keeping with Foundation’s original mission, we are making a renewed emphasis on providing significantly increased support for PreK through 12th grade education.

With this renewed focus, the Foundation has already launched two initiatives. One is to facilitate donation of used musical instruments for students who would otherwise not have the opportunity to participate in band. Heidi Popelka Jones, a former Vinton-Shellsburg student, recently donated her saxophone and said, “Band was such a creative outlet for me and it saddens me when students are unable to participate because their families can’t afford an instrument. I want every interested student to have the experience I did regardless of their family’s finances. It makes me feel great to donate the alto sax I've had since 6th grade and to give a motivated student the gift of an opportunity to participate. ”

If you have an instrument you would like to donate, please contact Jodi Bierschenk, Middle School Band Director, by emailing her at jodi.bierschenk@vscsd.orgor call the school district office at 319-436-4728 and ask to be put in touch with Mrs. Bierschenk. You will receive a letter from the Vinton Shellsburg Community School Foundation confirming your tax deductible donation, though it will be the donor’s responsibility to assign a value to their donation. Mrs. Bierschenk shared with us that she will take any instrument you would like to donate and she will figure out the best way to get it working and in the right hands.

In another initiative, a foundation subcommittee recently asked Superintendent Mary Jo Hainstock to provide guidance on what teachers believe they need to be more effective. The Superintendent’s next step was to survey teachers for ideas.

“I asked the staff across the district to answer this question,” said Mary Jo, “how would you spend dollars from the foundation to support your students’ learning in your classroom? Specifically, how would you help personalize their learning and make it more meaningful? The responses we received were thoughtful, insightful, and focused on serving our students.”

One project was a field trip for the high school Humanities class. The Foundation solicited funds to help defray the cost of visiting the Veteran's Museum in Waterloo. “The goal of the trip,” according to Kelly Steffen, high school social studies teacher, “was for students to gain a better understanding of local history and its connection to national and international events. Local veterans went with the class to compare and contrast what the students saw in the exhibits with the experiences veterans lived through. We think this is a great way for our students to have the experience of history rather than just reading about it in a textbook.”

Though support for the effort was organized quickly and not publicized well enough to receive a lot of financial support, it did provide a test run for receiving small donations through the district’s “Rev-Track” credit card system.

If you would like to contribute in the future using your credit card, access the foundation’s website at www.vscsdfoundation.org and click on the RevTrack icon on the lower right of your screen. You may note that your donation is for a specific project or given as an unrestricted gift to support opportunities for students. You may also send checks to Vinton-Shellsburg Community School Foundation, 1502 C. Avenue, Vinton, IA, 52349. Please be sure to mark in the memo field whether your gift is for a specific need or given as an unrestricted donation.

Albert Einstein said, "I never teach my pupils, I only provide the conditions in which they can learn." As members of the Foundation our goal is to provide the very best learning conditions for each and every student. Speaking on behalf of the Foundation and all our district’s educators, we hope you will join us.