These springtime weeks are filled with transitions: nervous, excited parents attend kindergarten orientation; older, nervous and excited parents watch their long-ago-kindergartners-turned-high-school-seniors, graduate!

From an adult vantage point, the intervening years seem to fly by, melding into one amorphous memory of homework, carpooling, tests, parent-teacher conferences, after-school activities, late nights, parent association meetings, etc.

In reality, the thousands upon thousands of minutes that our children are engaged in their 13 years of public education can be critically important, individually, and immensely formative, cumulatively. The climate surrounding our children, their educational instruction, and the physical, social and emotional growth opportunities that we provide for them matters.

This month, the Cape Elizabeth Education Foundation will award grants totaling $25,000. We’ve received requests that total $43,000, so we have some tough decisions to make. We’ll need to be cognizant of our mission – “to foster innovation and excellence in education” – and be mindful of what might have the greatest impact on transforming our intrepid, dream-filled kindergartners into confident, well-educated, dream-filled, seniors.

As the school year draws to a close, CEEF recognizes and thanks all of the district's administrators, staff members, teachers, parents, community members and volunteers who work to make “what matters” for our children truly excellent!

We also owe a debt of gratitude and deep appreciation to our donors, who enable CEEF to make such a positive difference in the lives of our students. Each of you should feel a sense of accomplishment in knowing that in some small way, you have influenced the future.

Best regards,
Trish

Shedd thanked CEEF “for its bold decision to support... the iPad initiative. Without CEEF, this project could not have happened.”

We appreciate the expressions of gratitude and recognition, but these don’t belong to CEEF as an entity; they belong to each and every one of you – our donors – who provided the financial resources to finance this and all of our other grants. You enable those of us who are privileged to sit on CEEF's board of directors to do the wonderful work of bestowing grants and positively impacting the lives of our faculty, staff and students.

CEEF is excited and proud to partner with the school district on the iPad 2 program. We applaud the Cape Elizabeth administrators and staff for thinking ahead and being willing to shake things up a bit in pursuit of continued improvement and excellence in education for our students.

I wanted to pass along Mr. Shedd’s sentiments and also deeply thank you for your financial support. Without you, projects like the iPad 2 initiative could never happen.

Best regards,

Trish Brigham, Co-President

Our ability to positively impact the schools at such an impressive level is directly attributable to the financial and volunteer support provided by local businesses and community members including those who contribute time and talent to our Board of Directors.  This month we welcome several new community members to our board:  Lindsay Alexander, Ken Barber, Brian Guthrie, Beth Herriman, Christine Laughlin and Catherine Miller.  As we look forward to the new ideas and energy that these people will undoubtedly share with CEEF, we bid a fond farewell to our retiring members: Joel Bassett, Mary Brett, Dan Fishbein and Hulda Khalidi.  We are most grateful for the many ways they helped sustain and improve CEEF during their board tenures.

While we take time to celebrate our past successes throughout this anniversary year we remain mindful of our responsibility to maintain CEEF's vibrancy and its ability to fund future initiatives supporting innovation and excellence in Cape Elizabeth's public schools.  We invite your suggestions and welcome your volunteer efforts and financial support.

Trish Brigham, Co-President 

In the spirit of the season, CEEF would like to express its appreciation for the efforts of so many who support the work of our Education Foundation, Cape Elizabeth public schools and the community's youth.  Through the generous support of our donors and volunteers, we awarded nearly $60,000 in grants this year.  These grants funded professional development for teachers in everything from art residencies and foreign language studies to classroom culture/management workshops.  The largest initiative receiving CEEF funding this year was a one-to-one mobile technology grant through which iPads and supportive technology training were provided to all high school teachers.  Representing a collaborative effort between CEEF and the school district, which will purchase iPads for high school students, this grant introduces into our schools a tool viewed by many as having the potential to transform instruction and student learning.

This fall, we also joined the community in welcoming our new Superintendent, Meredith Nadeau.  We have met with Superintendent Nadeau who brings great experience, energizing perspectives and creative ideas to our schools. CEEF looks forward to partnering with her as the educational leader of the district, as we all share the desire to maintain excellence in our schools in an era of challenging financial circumstances. 

CEEF would like to reiterate its thanks for your consistent support of our efforts to foster innovation and excellence in our schools. We hope that you and your family enjoy the upcoming season of celebration and giving.

Sincerely,

Trish Brigham
President-elect

We continue to reach out to alumni and founders as well as those families whose children are currently going through the school system.  It takes an entire community to support the goals and aspirations of our teachers and students.  Cape residents have, for generations, supported and helped build one of the finest school systems in New England.  I’m confident our administrators and school board will spend our tax dollars efficiently and keep our schools at the high levels to which we are accustomed.

We have some exciting things ahead of us this quarter, starting with the grant cycle coming up in May.  I’m sure we will be presented with some innovative and inspiring grant requests from our teachers, staff and administrators.  As a foundation we remind ourselves that our job is to raise the funds to provide for these grants.  These grants, in turn, pay for those important items and programs that are outside the school budget’s capacity.

In September we are holding our first biennial golf tournament at the Purpoodock Club.  We hope to encourage many members of the Cape Elizabeth community to support CEEF, and by extension our schools, with this new fundraiser.  We will be looking for sponsors, auction items and golfers to make this a big success.  Look for more details on the golf tournament on our website in the coming weeks.

Thank you for your continued support in making the Cape Elizabeth Education Foundation one of the best in New England.

Tim Thompson, CEEF President 2011

I have been thrilled to lead our board of directors for the past two years, and wish to thank every donor, every teacher, and every volunteer who has contributed to the achievement over those years.  It has been a pleasure to get to know so many of our educators and administrators, to meet students I wouldn't have otherwise had contact with, and to hear from community members about how they'd like to see CEEF continue to make a positive impact in our schools.

This year our two grant cycle awards contributed to a total of more than $830,000 that has been put creatively to use in our schools since 2002.  The funds are transformed into teacher grants, technology, professional development and exciting off-campus opportunities for students and staff alike.  The difficult economy has meant increasingly tricky evaluation of what it is to be “innovative and excellent,” but we believe that we are doing justice to those words that are as motivating to our board today as they likely were nearly ten years ago.

This year, despite obvious financial challenges in philanthropy across the country, we were able to capitalize on the success of our fundraising, especially the popular 2^nd Maine Home & Design/CEEF Kitchen Tour, and surpass our budgeted allotment for the endowment.  Its balance is now in excess of $305,000; well on its way to providing a long-lasting source of exciting difference-making initiatives.  These net successes also resulted in our expenses being lower than budgeted; another important accomplishment in tough times.

In January I will move back to a committee seat for the remainder of my second term on the board and hand the reins to fellow board member Tim Thompson.  Tim will bring his unique perspective of having raised five children here in Cape Elizabeth, all of whom attended the Cape schools to which Tim is dedicated.  I know that he will value the feedback and encouragement that so many of you generously offered to me over these two years of my leadership.

As I’ve said before, our most exciting grant is the one we haven’t yet funded.  The opportunities are limitless.

A happy and prosperous New Year to you and yours,

Christine 

We begin another school year with sobering economic news and changes to grow accustomed to.  While these times require a community effort of cutting back and prioritizing, they also call for a beacon of hope and optimism for our teachers and their students.  CEEF aims to be a consistent and dependable resource for our creative and dynamic teachers.  The support we receive from our donors throughout the year make this goal achievable, through our grant program and our growing endowment.

Another form of CEEF support comes in the form of events, and this month marks our second Maine Home + Design Cape Elizabeth Kitchen Tour.  On September 11 from 10:00 – 4:00, twelve beautiful Cape Elizabeth homes will be open to tour-goers, allowing us a glimpse into kitchens designed and built by local craftsmen.  The sponsors of the event provide a generous source of revenue for CEEF, and we encourage you to visit their websites, purchase their wares, and keep their names for future opportunities in your own homes. 

The composition of our board has endured change of late, as we have said farewell to directors Jennifer Duddy and to Sara Laprade.  Jennifer’s role in the office of US Senator Susan Collins has grown and takes her to exciting and often far-off places, the demands of which have required paring down her volunteer time.  Sara departs to devote her energy and time to family issues.  Both Jennifer and Sara have served the board with dedication and passion and will be missed greatly. 

The fall will lead us to winter as it always does, and many of the changes in our schools will have become routine to students, teachers and parents.  Another change awaits however, as the retirement of our superintendent on December 31 marks the end of five years with Mr. Hawkins at the helm of our “ship.”  Needless to say, the waters have not always been calm, and he has served as a reliable and resilient captain for us during some very difficult times.  Much has been accomplished during these five years thanks to Mr. Hawkins’ leadership, and we at CEEF have nurtured a relationship with our administration via the superintendent that has arguably strengthened our foundation’s role in the district.  Mr. Hawkins has agreed to stay on through April 15^th to assist with transition; we look forward to these months and value the experience and guidance that he will provide to the district.

So begins another school year and so continues the cycle of change to which we will adapt.  The new-school-year energy is always a lift, and I’m excited by the possibilities that lie ahead and the role which CEEF might play in making a difference in our classrooms.  Till then, I think one more beach day is calling my name . . .



The hopes of the CEEF Board of Directors are high too, and fittingly so.  This spring has seen the successful completion of our fifteenth grant cycle, bringing the total of the funds granted to our schools to over $780,000 since 2002.  We embarked on our 2010 annual campaign and were thrilled by the positive response to phone calls made to many in the community.  To top that good energy, the attendance at our third annual Pasta with Purpose dinner on the night before the Pond Cove 5K was higher than ever, gathering more than 300 hungry students and families to enjoy a wonderful meal and listen to some of our schools' most accomplished musicians while dining. We even had a movie debut to offer as dessert - a new "grants-on-display" video capably produced by a CEHS student for CEEF.

These accomplishments will serve to rev up our engines for what's to come in the fall.  During the summer months our board members and gang of tireless volunteers will continue to work on the preparations for our second Cape Elizabeth Kitchen Tour on September 11th.  Sponsored by Maine Home + Design and Sotheby's Legacy Realtors, the tour will once again allow us to get a glimpse inside some of the spectacular homes in our community. We will also continue the work that is the foundation upon which we exist: granting our donors' contributions to our teachers and students. 

Successes never happen in a vacuum, and so there are many people to thank for helping to bring us this far.  There are many volunteers including our board members who give many hours to ensure our donors' contributions are being used wisely.  We have many local business sponsors who donate goods and services and make financial contributions of their own.  Finally there are many students and teachers who give of their time and talents to further the goals that CEEF works toward. 

I thank you all for your part in CEEF's success, and ask you to keep your own energy high as we continue to fulfill the exciting grants our teachers dream up. Now, where's that beach umbrella . . .?

• In what most of us would agree was a year of bleak economic outlook, CEEF successfully raised approximately $120,000 through our annual campaign and events;
• The response to our “targeted giving” has been positive; we received several hundred dollars earmarked for certain categories of grants, as well as a $10,000 matching grant for outdoor programs that will go toward the 6^th grade week-long Chewonki experience over the next three years;
• Our board believes that our mission remains our guiding force; though pressures exist to fund budgeted programs in jeopardy, we will continue to focus our grant-making on innovative programs, initiatives and professional development that will be an injection of energy in these hard times and an investment in our schools’ future;
• As a board we have concluded that information about the state of education and our role in it is important, but we do not wish to risk alienating community members with perceived political advocacy; our plans for 2010 include a revamped regular e-publication to inform the community on issues relating to Cape schools, education in Maine, and in the nation;
• We have a volunteer actively working on grant-writing for CEEF in partnership with the school district; while in its early stages, we believe that this arm of CEEF’s potential grant making will be an important piece of the whole funding puzzle in years to come;
• We funded over $70,000 in grants to the schools this year, bringing the foundation’s total to over $759,000 awarded since 2002. 

We thank all of our donors for continuing to entrust CEEF with your contribution, and we will work hard in 2010 to keep your trust and put your donation to great use within Cape schools.  The programs that CEEF funds today will help retain our excellent teachers, help motivate our children to achieve more, and fortify our schools, made strong through our community’s commitment to education.

On another note – the Cape Elizabeth High School Alumni Directory was recently published and distributed to those who purchased it.  The publishers of the directory, Harris Connect, erroneously stated that CEEF provided the information found within.  CEEF does not share its donor information with anyone or any entity, and as such did not provide Harris Connect with any information of any kind.  The Cape Elizabeth School District provided Harris Connect with its alumni listings, and Harris used those listings to complete its research for the directory.

Harris Connect will send a letter to each recipient of the CE directory to explain the error in their claim and a disclaimer will accompany any future sales of the directory. 

I found a way to usher in the school year that would excite even the most reluctant summer revelers, however.  On August 25th, teachers and staff reported back to work for the new school year, and CEEF was fortunate enough to be a part of their early-morning assembly with the presentation of the annual CEEF teacher awards.  This year, we proudly honored CEMS music teacher Rebecca Bean and CEMS 6th-grade teacher Joe Doane with the Brownell and Thompson Awards, respectively.

I was lucky to be able to take part in the presentation as CEEF's current president.  The teacher award presentation is one of the most uplifting and gratifying moments of the CEEF calendar, allowing us to recognize the phenomenal contributions of some of our very special staff.  (You can read about the history of these awards as well as about the current recipients within our website pages under "Awards."  You can also read about the recipients in the Cape Courier's Sept. 5, 2009 issue.) 

One of the most thrilling aspects of the award presentation is the exuberant way in which the staff respond to the announcement of their colleagues' names.  It is clear that there is a great deal of respect and admiration among our teachers and staff, and they succeed in part because of their exceptional collaboration and cooperation. 

The beginning of the school year is filled with anxiety, eagerness, shuffling of paperwork and realigning of car-pools and work schedules.  It is a busy and often frantic time that eventually levels out into a predictable seven-day set of duties.  Our teachers and staff help our kids reach that level of relative calm, and in turn help us to do the same.  I am so grateful to have been able to thank them on CEEF's behalf for all they do at the start of this exciting and promising time of year. 

Congratulations to Rebecca and Joe, and may the beginning of the school year be as full of hope and energy as the final week will surely be.

Regards,

Christine