NEWS
Recent Quote from Judy Slocum
"Washington Township Schools Foundation has been a major factor in keeping the quality of MSD Washington Township competitive. As a former teacher and department chair for a number of years in MSDWT, I saw the difference that the MSDWT Foundation could make in the lives of students. What the foundation does permeates every facet of Washington Township. Where there is a need, they are there. It may be a grant to support International Baccalaureate programs K to 12 or something much smaller , but just as meaningful such as the two stories that follow.
I was one of the first teachers to write a grant to the foundation. At the time I was a reading specialist who was struggling to find materials for adolescent aged students who were non-readers. The grant covered the purchase of a collection of high interest/low ability books to entice these students to read. One of my students who had informed me that he had never read a book in his life and he wasn’t going to start now, not only read the collection of books, but then went on to become a truly educated reader. He was a tennis player who would drag a thick book to every match and read when he wasn’t playing. He went on to become an Academic All American and got a full ride to the U of Michigan. His success would not have occurred without that set of books.
A few years later I was teaching English and worked with a team of other middle school teachers. Each year we would take the students on our team to a camp in Northern Indiana for several days where we would do team building skills while teaching the history, culture and science of the area. Because MSDWT is culturally and economically diverse, the foundation provided scholarships for some students. One of our 7th grade scholarship students had never seen a lake before. The look on her face was like a glowing light bulb. The rule was that no student could go to the lake alone. During free time when other students were playing basketball or games, she would find me and we would go to the lake and wade and pick up shells. When we returned to school, she went to the library and found books on oceans and lakes. She read about submarines and Jacques Cousteau and even read Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. She became excited to learn about a world she never thought about previously. I understand that her enthusiasm for learning carried over into high school. A young lady, who was a lackluster student who nobody expected to finish high school, received a high school diploma because of what happened on that MSDWT Foundation funded trip.
Washington Township and the MSDWT Foundation are much like parents. The school district is the father who provides all the basics. The MSDWT Foundation is the mother who provides the heart and the soul of education. Together the two present a strong front to provide an outstanding educational opportunity."
Judith Slocum
Retired English Department Chair
Eastwood Middle School
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