November 2009 Vol. 8, Issue 11
In This Issue
Upcoming Events
Good4U, Good4Us!
November Success Story
Foundation in the News!
Join our mailing list
Excellence in Education Awards
Florida's Teacher of the Year
IBM KidSmart Donation
WilBook Source Donation
Thanks October Supporters
Get Involved!  

 
 
 
   

 
Upcoming Events 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Excellence in Education Awards
January 28, 2010
5:30pm
David A. Straz, Jr. Center for the Peforming Arts
 
The time has come to honor Hillsborough County's brightest stars!  Join 2,500 guests who will gather for this brand new event to recognize the nominees and finalists, and announce the winners, of Hillsborough County's Teacher of the Year, Instructional Support Employee of the Year, and Ida S. Baker Diversity Educator of the Year.  Sponsorship opportunities are available.  For more information contact Shannon Sellards at (813) 231-1864 or visit us online.
 
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Play FORE Education Charity Golf Classic
March 15, 2010
12:30pm
Avila Golf & Country Club
 
Take a swing for our schools!  The Play FORE Education Charity Golf Classic, presented by Batson-Cook Company, will be held March 15, 2010 at the Avila Golf and Country Club at 12:30PM.  All proceeds will benefit our programs and services.  Sponsors will enjoy recognition in front of prominent members of the community and the school district.  For more information contact Cheryl Hedrick at (813) 231-1937 by February 19, 2010.
 
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Hooked on Education Fishing Tournament
April 29-30, 2010
Westshore Yacht Club
 
This popular "catch and release" fishing tournament is hosted by WILDERARCHITECTURE and Allstate Construction, with proceeds benefiting the Foundation.  The event begins with a Captain's Dinner on the night of Thursday, April 29.  The tournament begins early Friday morning, and features a goodie bag for all fishermen, and food and refreshments throughout the day.  The festivities conclude with a catered awards ceremony.  Contact Cheryl Hedrick at (813) 231-1937 for event sponsorship information and to enter a team, or visit us online.
Good4U, Good4Us!
Apples
 
We have many exciting opportunities coming this spring!  Stay tuned for some must-see events!
November Success Story  
 
 
Readers as Leaders: A Cross-Age Tutoring Program
Funded through the Foundation's Classroom Grants program
  
 Young Middle Magnet School 
 
During the spring 2009 term, Seventh Grade Intensive Reading students from Young Middle Magnet traveled once a week to neighboring Lockhart Elementary School to serve as a "Reading Buddy" for a third grade student.  For these reading sessions the seventh graders prepared lesson plans and brought books, craft supplies, and rewards to engage their reading partners. 
 
The students' lesson plans included joint reading, spelling tests, searches for new spelling words, worksheets, and discussion questions.  Some of the questions were: What do you think they will do in the story?  Why did the person do that?  What was your favorite part in the story?
 
The teachers supervising the partnership program anticipated a significant difference in the FCAT scores for students who participated in the program versus those who did not.  The pre- and post-results from a district-administered reading assessment supported these expectations.  Many of the students who participated in the tutoring program doubled their scores between the tests.  These students helped increase both the school and class averages in these assessments as well.
 
You can help fund similar innovative classroom projects through our School Enrichment Initiative.  Click here for more information.
Learn More 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Hillsborough Education Foundation in the News!
 
Join our mailing list!
Note from the President
 
You've probably read the good news about the award of $100 million from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation as part of an initiative to assure that every student has an effective teacher throughout their school career.  Needless to say, we're excited at the prospects and congratulate all who have been involved in the process over the past months.   It's been a very thoughtful and inclusive process which has uncovered opportunities for improvement.
 
In addition to serving in the role of fiscal agent, the Education Foundation will be assisting in community involvement for the initiative.  The first opportunity of involvement will be coming up very soon.  Please check out our page dedicated to this initiative which will be updated regularly as new information becomes available.  Also, if you follow us on Twitter, you'll always be notified when we update information on the initiative.
Introducing the Excellence in Education Awards 
 
On January 28, 2010 the Foundation will debut the Excellence in Education Awards, a new program to honor our county's extraordinary educators.  This awards ceremony combines the well-known Ida S. Baker Diversity Educator of the Year, Instructional Support Employee of the Year, and Teacher of the Year Awards.  The red carpet affair will be held at the David A. Straz, Jr. Center for the Performing Arts (formerly known as the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center) and will feature a pre-awards reception catered by students in Hillsborough County's Culinary Arts programs.  Held in the renowned Carol Morsani Hall, the awards ceremony will recognize nominees in all categories and spotlight the five finalists for each award.  Guests will enjoy performances from our schools' talented youth throughout the program.  The night will conclude with the awarding of this year's top honors.
 
Local businesses and organizations can present themselves to over 700 Hillsborough County educators and community members through Excellence in Education Awards sponsorship opportunities.  Click here for more information and contact Shannon Sellards at (813) 231-1864.

Florida's Teacher of the Year : In her own words 
 
Megan Allen
Cleveland Elementary
Florida's Teacher of the Year
 
What a four months! My soul is so full from all the wonderful things that I have seen during the first part of my teacher of the year sabbatical.  As the Christa McAuliffe Ambassador to Education, I am spending the year being the voice for teachers and students across the state. I am so proud to represent Florida's teachers and am giving it my all! 
 
August 25, 2009. Normally I would be bouncing off the walls, classroom prepped, desks neatly arranged, and notebooks and supplies labeled with each child's name. But this year was different! The most difficult thing this year is being out of the classroom, but I am superpumped to think of all the ideas I am collecting in my bag of tricks to apply with next year's batch of kiddos. I am calling this year my "sponge year," for I am working on soaking in all the fabulous best practices and ideas from teachers around the state and spreading the word from the Gulf to the Atlantic coasts.
 
Read more about Megan Allen's experiences so far as Florida's Teacher of the Year.
IBM donation will improve education for at-risk students 
 
As part of its commitment to addressing the extremely low numbers of Hispanics entering careers in math, science, and technology, IBM awarded a grant for 50 Young Explorer computer centers to schools in Hillsborough County, as part of IBM's KidSmart Early Learning Program.  This grant is part of IBM's $2 million nationwide initiative to provide 1,000 computers and teaching curriculum to schools and nonprofit organizations that provide services to areas with a Hispanic population of more than 40 percent.  The state of Florida received three of the thirteen grants offered this year.  The recipients of the KidSmart grant in Hillsborough County are Title I schools who participate in the Foundation's Hillsborough Reads early literacy program.

Thank you IBM for your commitment to excellence and advancement in our schools! 

New KidSmart systems are unveiled at Mort Elementary School.  From left to right: Susan Valdes, Hillsborough County School Board member; Beny Peretz, principal of Mort Elementary; MaryEllen Elia, Superintendent of Schools; Janell Ray, Corp Citizenship & Corp Affairs for IBM; Linda Wizner, Program Director, IT Analyst Relations for IBM; Bill Hoffman, President of Hillsborough Education Foundation.
Bruce Larkin gives 15,000 books to Teaching Tools! 
 
WilBook Source and author Bruce Larkin donated 15,000 books to Teaching Tools for Hillsborough Schools.  This donation is worth $30,000.  Thank you Bruce and WilBook Source for helping to ensure Hillsborough County classrooms have the books students need to grow in their reading skills.
 
 
Thank you to our October supporters! 
AAA Auto Club South
Accurate Paper Recycling, Inc.
Analysis Research Planning Corporation
Argosy University Tampa Campus
AVI-SPL
AXA Advisors, LLC
AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company
Bank of America
Batson-Cook Company
Bay Cities Bank
Camden Property Trust
Career Education Corporation
CFIndustries, Inc.
Children's Board of Hillsborough County
Citi Foundation
City of Tampa Dept. of Solid Waste
Coastal Caisson Corp.
Collier Enterprise II, LLC
CORT
East Coast Business Products
Everest University
First American Title Insurance Co.
Flooring America
Florida Medical Training Institute
Florida State Fair Authority
Fowler White Boggs P.A.
Garcia Family Foundation
Genesis Direct
GunnAllen Financial
The Hampton-Brown Company, Inc.
IBM
Iron Workers Local 397
Kevin and Eleanor Irwin
Johnny R. Adcock, CLU & Associates, Inc.
Gordon Johnston
JP Morgan Chase Bank, N.A.
Junior League of Tampa, Inc.
Krewe of the Brass Monkey, Inc.
Krewe of South Shore Marauders
Linda Lewis
Lockheed Martin
Christopher and Claudia Long
Mercury New Media
National Aviation Academy
Nielsen Media Research Global Technology & Information Ctr
Nielson Media
NOVA Southeastern University
Carter G. Phillips and Sue J. Henry
The Plasencia Group, Inc.
Tampa Port Authority
Penny Ruark
Sagicor Life Insurance Company
SDHC Central Warehouse
SDHC-HOST
Seabulk Towing, Inc.
St. Petersburg Times Fund, Inc.
St. Petersburg Times Newspaper in Education
Stonehill Science Fiction Association
Tampa Bay Lightning Foundation, Inc.
Tampa Convention Center
The Tampa Tribune
TECO Energy, Inc.
Time Customer Service, Inc.
USAA Foundation, A Charitable Trust
Verizon
Braulio Vicente, Jr.
Wachovia Bank - Community Bank
Erin West
Wilbooks - Bruce Larkin
Linda J. Wizner
Speak little, do much. ~ Benjamin Franklin
Sincerely,
 
 
 
Bill Hoffman
President
Hillsborough Education Foundation