Twenty-five years ago, a group of Mahtomedi-area parents and residents made a commitment. Their mission: to enhance educational excellence by supporting the arts in Mahtomedi public schools. Now, as they celebrate their silver anniversary, the Mahtomedi Area Educational Foundation (MAEF) continues its pursuit of educational excellence by working with different groups and creating unique programs throughout the community. Although the arts remain the focus, with arts-based summer camps, the Wildwood Artists Series and teacher/curriculum grants a main priority, the group is busy planning and preparing our kids for the future in new ways.
As technology and engineering play an increasingly important role in the community and our daily lives, MAEF is harnessing that enthusiasm and channeling it into classroom learning. About five years ago they started funding for smartboards in every classroom in the district. Approximately three years and $125,000 later, this goal was met. But that was just the first step in integrating technology into the classroom.
Last year the focus was on digital literacy, which put iPads and netbooks into the hands of all students and gave them the opportunity to collaborate in new ways. Part of the transformation to becoming a high-tech school involves changes in the library experience. “Imagine a library—break down the walls and make little nooks where you can take your iPad and beam stuff up onto the walls while working on a group project,” says MAEF executive director Kelly Unger. The old-school library becomes a media center that is “high-tech and in line with the students’ interests,” she says.
BYOD (bring your own device) is the newest initiative funded by MAEF. Starting this academic year, students in the upper grades are encouraged to bring their own device so they can work with the tool they feel most comfortable using. That means students who own an iPad, Android, smartphone or other device, can use it in the classroom for educational purposes. MAEF hopes to provide devices that students can check out if they don’t have their own. This approach is “more efficient, less expensive and more mindful of what’s happening in the world,” says Unger.
In recent years, MAEF invested in an engineering program in the schools that “probably wouldn’t have happened had we not injected the project with seed money for the district,” says Unger. “Technology in general is an expensive proposition, with budgets getting tighter,” she explains. But their engineering program does not shy away from innovative initiatives, which, unfortunately, usually come with a hefty price tag. Last fall, MAEF was proud to fund the first fabrication laboratory (a.k.a. “fablab”) in the world to be housed in a K–12 setting. This MIT-approved digital fabrication facility has students donning white lab coats and getting hands-on experience with engineering projects across numerous curriculums. Mary George, the district engineering program coordinator, is grateful that the MAEF could step up and raise over $70,000 to make the fablab a reality. “It’s the project we are most proud of funding,” comments Unger. “We’re trying to arm the students with the technology of the future so they can go out and be productive human beings.”
But the MAEF hasn’t been alone in its endeavors; the group has had a lot of help from the community. The recent digital literacy initiative, for instance, was funded by the donations from the annual spring gala, which raised money from local residents. And the American Legion Kramer-Berg Post 507, which raises much of its money through charitable gambling, recently wrote a check for $10,001 to pass its own $2 million mark of total funds donated to charitable foundations. “The post believes strongly in education,” says Unger. “We are strongly aligned with them to give as many scholarships as possible” to graduating seniors every year.
