2017 Grant Recipients

2017 Technology Education Foundation Grant Recipients

In 2017, the Technology Education Foundation (TEF) awarded nearly $100,000 to deserving recipients throughout Southern Wisconsin.  Each recipient demonstrated their ability to provide science and/or technology for the greater good of our community.  Congratulations to:

Shorewood Hills Elementary: $998.95 for a Makerspace Project.  Makerspaces provide creative time and space for students to build prototypes, explore questions, fail and retry, bounce ideas off one another and build something together.  With funds from TEF, Shorewood Hills Elementary will provide students access to modern technology tools such as Makey Makey and 3-D printing.  The Makey Makey is a microprocessor that makes inventing with technology fun and engaging in an easy-to-use invention kit.  Students can create complex 3-D models and print them using a 3-D printer.

School District of Monroe: $10,000 for high definition camcorders for video production education.  These videos will provide students the opportunity to promote their school in a personal, positive manner and will be featured on the districts website and social media.  Students will also graduate from Monroe High School with a portfolio of digital content to submit to college recruiters and/or future employers.  The goals of video production education is to create a video to tell a story, learn to work creatively and collaboratively together, build knowledge and demonstrate understanding by using a variety of tools and methods to create videos.

Capital Science & Engineering Fair: $1,500 for sponsorship of the Capital Science & Engineering Fair (CSEF).  The goal of CSEF is to motivate students to study science, technology, engineering and math and become qualified to go into STEM-related careers.  The mechanism for motivating students is one series of regional science fairs feeding a statewide science fair.  CSEF is joining the many organizations that are positioning themselves to address the growing shortage as qualified employees to fill STEM-related job openings.  By holding a regional science and engineering fair, there will be an increase to the number of students entering the institutions of higher learning with an interest in STEM-related careers after college.

Vera Court Neighborhood Center: $10,000 to help expand their campaign of Vera Vision 2020 so that every child has the support they need to read at grade level.  Vera Vision 2020 academic programming will include support teams, tutoring, and literacy.  Vera Courts is partnering with parents and teachers to design out-of-school learning plans that identify each child’s strengths and challenges and help them accomplish their personal educational goals.  For students reading below grade level, Vera Court is implementing a one-on-one tutoring progam.  Funds from the Technology Education Foundation will go to purchase additional e-readers, tablets and laptops.  This will allow all students in after-school programming to benefit from educational technology during homework time.

DANEnet: $10,000 for digital literacy, deployment of desktop computers, Fix IT clinics and connectivity workshops through the expansion of Everyone On Madison to reach 200 more households.  Everyone On Madison launched in 2016 and over the last 9 months the project helped to connect 500 households, deployed 226 computers, taught 256 people digital literacy and fixed 78 computers for low-income households.  With support from TEF, DANEnet will provide 4 core services that increase digital inclusions for low-income and unconnected households: Broadband adoption support, Free or low-cost computers, Digital literacy workshops, and Fix IT clinic for ongoing support.  The digital literacy workshops and clinic will improve knowledge, teach skills, fix devices, and empower users.  Workshops will include computer basics, navigating and searching the internet, online consumer safety, privacy, data storage, the cloud, email, and other digital literacy topics.

School District of Poynette: $7,500 to purchase 30 Chrombooks for 5^th grade students.  The School District of Poynette’s greatest need for computers lies within the literacy curriculum.  Students publish a monthly focused writing piece.  They use computers to organize, types their rough drafts, collaborate with other students and publish their final drafts.  Students in fifth grade focus on keyboarding skills, creative writing and are introduced to websites such as Storybird to help them publish a story.

Goodman Community Center: 10,000 for the Flying High, Flying TALL (Technology, Aviation, Learning and Leadership), an innovative unmanned aircraft technology literacy and youth leadership program.  Youth will develop personal study habits and leadership skills through building, coding, and flying drones.  Flying High, Flying TALL is a 10 week program designed to increase technology literacy and academic and social emotional competencies of youth.  Students will develop technology literacy through hands-on drone building, coding and flying activities and also participate in two 1-day internship to learn about the unmanned aviation field and the varied academic and paths of professionals working in the field. 

Boys & Girls Club: $5,000 to put towards its newest program, Lyricism 101.  Lyricism 101 is part of the digital arts program and funds from TEF will help the new program expand to more members through hands-on training in operating sound recording and mixing equipment.  Lyricism 101 is an evidence-based program for teens that integrates creative expression (hip-hop rhythmic and rhyming speech), literacy skills, music composition, and use of digital recording equipment to engage teens in a powerful mode of self-expression.  Students will learn the role of each piece of equipment in the recording process and how sound travels through the computer system; the use of digital audio workshop, microphones, filters, monitors, and headphones to record, edit and mix music; the responsibility of the studio manager the recording engineer, the master engineer, the producer, and the artists, and try their hand at each of these positions.

Madison Children’s Museum: $5,300 in support of the 2017-2018 MCM STEAM Programming series, which will expand to offer new programming in E-Textiles.  E-Textiles integrate electronic circuitry and computer technology with fabric-based design, allowing young makers to embed fabric creations such as clothing and toys with electronics like LED lights, speakers, and more.  Computerized embroidery and knitting machines enable students to turn their 2D drawings and designs into textiles while developing computer programming skills.  Equipment and supplies funded by TEF will enable MCM to increase the technology content of popular programs and camps including Project FUNway, Build-a-Cyborg-Buddy, STEAM Engineers and drop-in Maker Space programming.

Aldo Leopold Nature Center: $5,870.75 to fund iPads and iPad minis and associated hardware to finalize the Blue Marble Theater and offer the highest quality programming for the high-tech meets high-touch educational exhibits.  This will allow visitors to engage in digital programs linked up with Explore Our Planet, Explore Outer Space and Learn about Leopold.  About 7,826 students participated in high-tech meets high-touch programs which use technology and interactive exhibits as well as experiences in the field, all enhanced by supplemental digital learning tools and experiences that are critical to helping grasp local and global connections and illustrate how individual actions impact the environment.

The First Tee: $5,000 to purchase iPads to use in two Madison Learning Centers.  Over 200 kids participate in a comprehensive 9 week after school program where they receive one hour of life skills education through the game of golf and one hour of academic education.  The First Tee will use the iPads so that youth participants can go over lessons and take assessment quizzes during teacher-supervised lesson times.  The expanded Learning Center programming ensures that participants have the resources, instruction, mentoring, and learning environment to succeed academically, socially and personally while growing into a contributing member of society.

YWCA: $20,000 in support of the YWeb Career Academy, part of the YWCA Madison employment program.  YWeb Career Academy is a 3 month intensive program that teaches women and people of color the skills they need to be web developers and designers.  Upon completion of the program, students are placed in internships or full-time employment with the goal of increasing diversity within the tech field.  The program creates both channels for individuals to become more self-sufficient and a diverse pipeline for local technology talent.  Graduates will have long-term earning potential and career growth opportunities.

St. James Catholic School: $8,500 to purchase 40 Chromebooks for the 4^th and 5^th grades to provide an environment rich in math and science.  Teachers have recognized student engagement with the use of these tools and appreciated the expanded curriculum for math and science applications.  Faculty will be able to utilize the technology to supplement literacy lessons in the classroom, students will have access to technology for their learning, and teachers will use the technology to differentiate and personalize instruction.