Pickleball Fun!!
We had a blast at our Pickleball Tournament last Saturday!! Thank you to all of those who came and played!! Also, a big shoutout to our tournament sponsors: The Sandbox, Meritrust, WSU Tech, Loyd Group, Vornado, Davis Moore and the Derby Informer. Thanks for helping us raise funds for Derby Public Schools!!
Pickle Ball Tournament
Please join us for the first annual Derby Education Foundation Pickle Ball Tournament on Saturday, March 23rd at The Sandbox in Derby. More information can be found at:
Gary Wilkerson Memorial
Retired Derby elementary school teacher Gary Wilkerson passed away on September 13, 2023. Gary taught in Derby Public Schools 30 years before retiring in 2006. Thank you to all of those that donated to the Derby Education Foundation in honor of Gary’s memory. The DEF will use the memorial funds to help support outstanding educational opportunities for Derby students.
BOE Presentation
DEF Board Chair Janet Sprecker spoke to the Derby BOE yesterday evening about recent DEF activities. Some of the highlights from her talk included discussing the DEF’s fall classroom grants and the DEF sponsorship of the Staff Showcase Awards.
DHS Ever-Fi Grant
The Derby Education Foundation is pleased to once again partner with Citizens Bank of Kansas in supporting financial literacy education at Derby High School. CBK & the DEF are donating $3,000 to renew the Ever-Fi financial literacy subscription for the 2023-24 school year. The DEF would like to thank the Derby Wal-Mart for the $1,000 grant they awarded to the DEF to support this financial literacy program.
Meritrust Donation
Thank you so much to Meritrust Credit Union for their $3,000 donation to support the DEF’s concurrent credit scholarship program! These funds will be used to help DHS students with financial need pay for college credits while taking specific high school classes. The local universities that partner with DHS include Newman University, WSU Tech and Butler County Community College. Here is a quote from a 2022-23 scholarship recipient:
Last year, as a junior, I received a generous scholarship from DEF to use for concurrent credits. I was able to take physics concurrently through DHS and WSU Tech…I was appreciative of this opportunity and personal challenge…Next year, I plan to attend a 4-year college and major in biochemistry. My ultimate goal is to attend medical school…Thank you for this concurrent credit scholarship, and for continually realizing that there are many ways a high school plan of study can look for each individual student. I am hoping I will make Derby and the Derby Education Foundation proud in my future work endeavors.
Thank You Donors!
The DEF Board would like to thank our recent donors Davis Moore Auto Group ($1,000) and the Derby Wal-Mart ($1,000). Davis Moore’s donation helped the DEF increase the amount of support we were able to provide for the USD 260 All-Staff Back-to School event. The Derby Wal-Mart’s donation will allow the DEF to continue our support of financial literacy education at Derby High School. Thank you to these wonderful community donors!!
Wins for Kansas Award
Thank you again to KAKE news and DeVaughn James for the DEF Wins for Kansas award. Here is the link to the video that aired on the 10:00 news last night. https://frankly-vod.akamaized.net/kake/transcoded/0ebfbee8-77ce-44b8-846f-5ff22c480a32/1280x720_0ebfbee8-77ce-44b8-846f-5ff22c480a32.mp4
Happy Summer!!
The DEF Board would like to wish all USD 260 staff and students a wonderful summer!! We look forward to our next round of classroom grants this fall. The fall grant application deadline is September 1st, 2023.
Wins For Kansas
Thank you to DeVaughn James and KAKE News for giving the Derby Education Foundation a Wins For Kansas $500 Award. We had a good time filming the check presentation at the KAKE studio today.
Panther Pride Pavers
Panther Pride Pavers make wonderful graduation gifts for your favorite Derby High School senior! Order yours today! https://www.derbyeducationfoundation.org/pavers
New DEF Board Members
The DEF Board would like to welcome our newest members: Sherry Reed and Reegan Innes. Thank you, Sherry and Reegan, for being willing to serve on the DEF Board!
Thank you to the Derby Board of Education for allowing DEF Board Chair Janet Sprecker to present at your meeting last Monday night. We appreciated the opportunity to update you on DEF recent activities.
Derby Rotary Club Presentation
Thank you to the Derby Rotary Club for inviting Janet Sprecker from the Derby Education Foundation to speak at your March 10th meeting. We appreciate the opportunity to inform your organization about the current DEF activities and initiatives.
Derby High School Concurrent Credit Scholarships
The Derby Education Foundation is pleased to announce that they have awarded over $3,000 to Derby High School students this spring to help them pay the tuition & fees required to earn college credit for some of the classes they are taking at DHS. The seven students to whom these scholarships were awarded are working towards earning over 35 college credits from Newman University, Butler County Community College and WSU Tech this spring. The DEF looks forward to continuing to build this need-based scholarship program with Derby High School.
Derby Education Foundation Spring Grants
Spring Grants
This week, we were excited to award our spring classroom grants to four classes/groups. They are the Derby High School Marching Band, the Derby High School DECA Organization, Tanglewood Elementary Literacy Program and the Derby North Middle School Digital Art Classes. Checkout our website for pictures from these presentations.