May, 2008
Dear Friends,
We are very excited to share with you the success of the Foundation’s newest initiative, which has made great strides in bringing David Gordon’s love of learning to many, many children.
The Scholars Program: 18 Students Enrolled
This winter, we began the Scholars Program at David’s school, Spring Hill Elementary. Over the last 6 months, we’ve created, funded and executed three very successful programs for 18 students from 3rd through 6th grade. These programs are designed to identify talented, promising future leaders and to provide them with individualized one on one tutorial instruction to develop their ingenuity, creativity, skills and love of learning. Most importantly, the program is intended to engender what will become a life-long hunger for and love of learning that will lead to extraordinary achievement and success for the individual and society. In particular, the program is designed to provide highly gratifying experiences of discovery and achievement that the students will attempt to replicate over the course of their lifetimes. The candidates for the Scholars Program are nominated by their teachers and the criteria are based on achievement, creativity, self-motivation and non-grade, non-standardized test measures of intelligence.
The initial three Scholars Programs are:
- Creative Writing Scholars: Five talented 5th and 6th graders meet twice monthly with author Susan Shreve to share, discuss and improve their creative writing. Susan is a highly accomplished author of more than 14 books who is also a professor at George Mason University. She has a wonderful rapport with her students. With Susan, the creative writing Scholars have explored many different forms of writing, from the fiction that they all love and excel at, to forms that are newer to them, such as plays and even children’s stories. In addition to honing their skills under Susan’s guidance, they’ve learned how to constructively criticize their peers in a seminar setting. They will all have the opportunity to continue next fall with another talented author, Erica Perl.
- Science Scholars: Throughout 2008, 12 science Scholars have met twice a month with science educator Glo DeAngelis, who has been a science program director at the Boston Museum of Science and has created and performed a terrific science show that to date has been seen by more than 30,000 kids. The science Scholars have explored the principles of physics, sound, air and light and done hands-on experiments at each session (they really like yanking a tablecloth off the table without upsetting the plate and glass on it when demonstrating inertia!). The science Scholars will also be able to continue lessons in the fall.
- Music Scholars: Throughout 2008, we have supported the remarkable talents of 3rd grade violinist Jillian Khoo through extended lessons and masters classes and will continue with a music camp at Ithaca College this summer. You can listen to her via a link on our website.
Next step in growing the Scholars Program: Underserved students in Washington, DC:
Building on the success of the initial pilot Scholars Program at David’s school, Spring Hill, we are now expanding the program to touch more children’s lives. Erica will be working in the fall with a second public school, in Washington, DC; we will bring the creative writing program to underserved children at Webb/Wheatley Elementary School, where 94% of the children qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. With the new principal of that school, we are also exploring launching an after-school music program at Webb/Wheatley.
Developing an Alliance with the I Have a Dream Foundation
With Glo, we are bringing a specially created science curriculum and program to three affiliates of the I Have a Dream Foundation. The I Have a Dream Foundation (IHAD), established in 1986, empowers children in low-income communities to achieve higher education by providing them with guaranteed tuition support and equipping them with the skills, knowledge, and habits they need to gain entry to higher education and succeed in college and beyond Most IHAD affiliates sponsor entire grade levels of 50-100 students in under-resourced public schools or housing developments, and work with these "Dreamers" from early elementary school all the way through high school. Upon high school graduation, each Dreamer receives guaranteed tuition assistance for higher education. The David Gordon Louis Daniel Foundation will provide an engaging, hands-on science curriculum, which will explain and demonstrate basic scientific principles of the world around us. The elements of the program are: lessons to enhance the Dreamers’ science knowledge, hands-on scientific experiments that illustrate the lessons’ principles and excite the Dreamers, and internships in the local science community. This is an opportunity to broaden the Dreamers’ exposure to the many different science areas (earth, physical and life sciences) and to open paths they may not have considered or even known about. The enclosed materials provide more details on our work with IHAD.
This new alliance will require a much larger degree of fundraising support than we have relied on over the past few years, and we will be looking to supplement our wonderful cadre of donors and supporters through applications to institutional donors and foundations. We are expanding our board of directors to include individuals with business and program experience in education and have been tremendously gratified by their enthusiasm for our partnership with IHAD and for bringing science experiences to these children.
Again, we are so grateful for your support and are very excited to be making a difference in these children’s lives.
Sincerely,
David and Lisa Daniel
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