|
Pictured left to right, front row, Dick Granville, MSCF Board Member; Chrissy Auld, Head of Wye River Upper School; Robbin Hill, Director of MSCF Programs; Patricia McGlannan, Director of Wye River Upper School Business and Development; Back row, Tom Robinson, MSCF Volunteer; Carolyn Alexander, Manager of MSCF Donor Services and F. Graham Lee, President of Mid-Shore Community Foundation.
|
|
|
|
Students and faculty of Wye River Upper School have benefited from teaching tools on the cutting edge of technology and innovation due to grants funded by the Mid-Shore Community Foundation (MSCF) in Easton. MSCF funds jump started the school’s focus on technology during its first year of operation in fall 2002, funding a central nervous system to coordinate all of the school’s technology components, as well as equipment for a digital photography and movie making class. Because the school is located in the new Higher Education Center on the campus of Chesapeake College, it benefits from a state-of-the-art projection system in each of its classrooms. In addition, students each bring with them their own Apple laptop computer and the school provides each faculty member with the same technology.
A second grant from MSCF garnered funds to continue the development of the Wye River Upper School’s Expressive Arts program. Seizing the talents of new faculty member Juan Pablo Angarita, the school prioritized the creation of a unique Introduction to Music class. Angarita created a class that matched technology with music composition. After only one term, students in the class have set about the task of writing their own compositions. He comments, “It is marvelous to have the music software and the keyboards as the musical instrument to teach the class. This technological privilege exposes the minds of the students to today’s composition tools and enhances their power of creativity.”
A recent site visit to the Wye River Upper School reinforced the significance of the grants for F. Graham Lee, president of Mid-Shore Community Foundation. Lee is eager to learn the impact of the grants awarded throughout the Mid Shore region and to know more about each of the beneficiaries. He comments, “Mid- Shore Community Foundation has always been dedicated to building partnerships with organizations that have an effect on people in our five county region. The needs are plentiful and the opportunity to make a huge difference is there. We’re glad to be able to make a difference at Wye River Upper School.”
MSCF board member, Dick Granville, echoes Lee’s comments, stating, “As a foundation, we are certainly interested in seeing the outcomes of our grant projects firsthand. We were happy to see the money granted to the Wye River Upper School was spent carefully and judiciously, creating a very interesting program for the students there.”
For Chrissy Aull, head of Wye River Upper School, the grant funds have opened new vistas for her students. She says, “The skills the students gain are not limited to the technical ones, but include the production and presentation skills involved in their projects. Even if they don’t go out into the world to cartoon or compose, they certainly will use their growing poise, self-confidence and creativity. Those are the life skills we are working very hard to reinforce. We are very grateful to Mid-Shore for enabling this opportunity.” |
|
