1-40th CAV (ABN) and Ravenwood Elementary School

Lieutenant Colonel Jake Hughes, Commander

Ravenwood and the 1-40th CAV Airborne have had a partnership since the 2016 - 2017 school year as part of the military/ASD school partnership program. This partnership is very important to our school community as 30% of the students and families at Ravenwood Elementary include a parent who is active-duty military. The partnership and our partners are a welcome presence in our school community!

Annually, the Commander and principal meet to coordinate school event dates with troop availability. We identify specific projects and programs for our partner to support. Annually, they help with our 5th Grade Westward Expansion/Winter Survival Camp, Science Fair judging, STEAM Night interactive display for students and their families, and help with book fair set-up. Last summer, the 1-40th CAV sent over 7 soldiers to help move three classrooms prior to school starting. This was not an easy day of volunteering as two of the classrooms were in portable buildings and had to be relocated inside, requiring many trips up and down 2 sets of stairs. The assistance allowed classroom teachers to concentrate their efforts on putting the room back in order and preparing for their "mission" to educate students.

The 1-40th CAV provides subject matter experts teaching our 5th graders about avalanche safety, winter survival, and packing for winter encampment. They send soldiers to the winter survival camp to lead stations on fire starting and shelter building on the first day, and then return to guide and evaluate student winter shelter building on 2nd day of camp. Staff, students and parents always reflect positively on the 1-40th CAV’s participation and leadership. On post-camp evaluations, students always rate the 1-40th CAV’s stations as their favorites, and list their interactions with the soldiers as a camp highlight. They send us troops to help interview and judge our annual Science Fair, as well as setting up interactive displays at our STEAM Night. Their displays range from bringing military vehicles, jump gear, and other technology tools they use in their jobs to share with students and families.

A team of 3-6 soldiers come and help set up our annual Scholastic Book Fair, completing the set-up in less than 2 hours vs. the day it would take the librarian to accomplish by herself or with a couple of volunteers. This involves them moving 4-5 pallets of boxes from the school loading dock to the library, opening the boxes and setting up the book fair displays. They even took a Ravenwood school hoodie on an annual Arctic mission, bringing it back in a framed shadow box to present to our school which we now proudly display.

The 1-40th CAV provides us with a team of dedicated experts who can be relied upon to work directly with our students and families. Seeing men and women in military uniform is common in our school community, but having members of 1-40th CAV come in and actively work with our students and staff, showcasing their job skills and technologies is a bonus. It reinforces the positive attitude and support our school community has for our veterans and active duty service members, while reinforcing the impact of a positive, meaningful community partnership for the 1-40th CAV troops. Our students, families and staff enjoy and benefit from the positive interactions they have learning from our 1-40th service members, and likewise, the troops benefit from the opportunity to develop and refine their leadership skills, while continuing to reflect positively on the 1-40th CAV and the United States Army.  The 1-40th CAV Airborne are exemplary in EVERY way, from the ease of coordinating annual volunteer opportunities to their professional interaction with our staff and students at a variety of school events. They serve our school and our country with “force and valor,” and we are proud to nominate them as an invaluable school business partner for a Spirit of Tomorrow Business Partnership Award.

Bear Valley Community Association and Bear Valley Elementary School

Bear Valley Community Association (BVCA) and Bear Valley Elementary School have had a thriving partnership for over 30 years! The partnership has worked to create meaningful experiences for students at Bear Valley Elementary and the relationship supports activities, events, and the before- and after-care program. The staff involved goes the extra mile to support the students as they transition over to school for the day and work with staff to create consistent rules and guidelines for student success. They are willing to create after-school classes based on student interest and need. Their programs are engaging and well attended, providing students an opportunity to engage in after-school programs close to home. 

Partnering with BVCA provides community activities which are run through the school, including maintaining the ice rink and fun-runs. The school and community benefit with the additional before-and after-care of the student population and additional programming available for our students. Throughout the year, activities or classes held include cross country running, guitar, choir, Lego team, basketball, and volleyball. The school benefits from the additional resources and supports the additional program by providing reasonable rent and coordinating with the PTA for volunteers and insurance, providing office space, and assisting with issues that might arise with student needs. The teaching staff often support the after-school activities. Bear Valley Elementary and Bear Valley Community Association equally promote our organizations during events and activities and engage the community to benefit our students.

Costco (Dimond) and Willow Crest Elementary School

Lori Staats, Membership

Willow Crest Elementary has a long-standing relationship with the Dimond Costco community. For over 20 years, Costco has worked to partner with Willow Crest in a multitude of fashions. All of their donations, hours of time spent, and compassion for our students have made a great impact on our student body and school community.

Each year, Costco works to support students from our Title 1 school who need school supplies to start the year. They supply a large quantity of backpacks not only for students who are in need, but for our entire student body. Students and families alike appreciate this gift as it takes away the pressures of purchasing supplies some do not have the ability to purchase. Prior to COVID, Costco also worked to organize staff volunteers to work with individual classrooms to read to struggling learners. Throughout the years, students have loved meeting with those volunteers and have built not only strong relationships with the employees, but also learned to foster a love for learning due to their support. Finally, Costco has also worked to support our school during the Books and Blankets event organized annually during the holiday season. Many of our students struggle when leaving the structures of school during this time and Costco has donated blankets for students to take home for them to find comfort during that time.

Students greatly benefit from Costco's support as they are provided respite from the monetary concerns of finding school supplies at the beginning of the year, are able to build connections with Costco volunteers while also enhancing their literacy skills and are also gifted with warm blankets at the end of the year. Costco clearly shares a vision of learning and compassionate support for families who are in need. They have made reading support a top priority for our school and their kindness in being willing to provide backpacks has also been an outstanding support for our school community. Willow Crest would love to give back to our business partners this year through honoring them during our Multicultural Family Night celebration, which takes place in May.

ENSTAR Natural Gas Company and Willow Crest Elementary School

Alicia Luna, Executive Administrative Assistant 

ENSTAR has worked to support Willow Crest Elementary for many years during the holiday season. ENSTAR initiated the partnership and offered to supply a pizza lunch to the entire school, and more importantly, multiple books for EVERY child within our building. Many of our students do not have the opportunity to read books at home and ENSTAR has sought to share the love of reading with our students during the holiday season through the gift of books.

Willow Crest Elementary is a Title 1 school with a high percentage of students who come from families in need. With this in mind, our entire student body is on free and reduced lunch in order to supplement their nutritional needs. Many of our students also struggle academically due to lack of exposure and do not have appropriate resources at home to support academic progress. ENSTAR has seen these struggles and stepped up to the plate in order to support our student body in both areas. Each holiday season they not only provide a full pizza lunch for the entire student body as a send off for the holiday season, but they also work tirelessly to collect age-appropriate books to donate to every student in our school. Many do not realize it, but the holiday season can bring quite a bit of stress to families and students as routines and structures that come with daily schooling are not present. The support that ENSTAR provides during this time of year allows for a slight respite of those concerns and allows students to enter into the holiday season with full stomachs and an eagerness to learn with the new books provided.

ENSTAR’s commitment to Willow Crest is the epitome of community involvement and support. ENSTAR has supported our community for years during our annual Books and Blankets event. This event has become well known throughout the community as we work with the support of our business partners and neighbors to provide our students with the comfort of a blanket, as well as the opportunity to read and keep books that they normally would not have access to. It is incredibly evident that ENSTAR works tirelessly well before the event to collect hundreds of books. This effort is not only appreciated by our staff and students, but is a model to other business partners, many of whom have also stepped up to support in this event due ENSTAR's example. ENSTAR's energy, compassion and excitement to support our school community hugely impacts the district, as they support an event that brightens the lives of our students, but also inspires others to make a difference as well. ENSTAR imbues the characteristics of kindness and compassion.

 Gumbo House and Inlet View Elementary

Ana Del Real, Owner 

 

The Gumbo House and Inlet View Elementary School have been partners for over seven years. The Gumbo House has been a proud and amazing sponsor and supported the school with donations of time, energy, and food. The Gumbo House has consistently donated food to support our staff and teacher appreciation events and continued even through all the recent hardships. 

The partnership benefits our students and school community. As an IB School, our focus is on understanding and accepting different cultures that are a part of our daily lives, part of our community, and in the workplace. The sharing of culture is a cornerstone of the partnership between Gumbo House and Inlet View. The owner and staff of Gumbo House represent the generous, compassionate, giving and culturally educated individuals which we strive to share with our students. We appreciate the Gumbo House and want to recognize their great partnership.

Mayfield’s Quality Cleaners and Mountain View Elementary 

Barry & Stephanie Evans, Owners

Mayfield's Quality Cleaners is a black-owned business in Mountain View that prides itself on employing diverse individuals with disabilities. The owners, Barry and Stephanie Evans, have been extremely encouraging about the work we are doing to transform our school to be a beacon of light for the community. They are committed to our scholars succeeding. They have given very generous financial contributions and have also supported our school by creating high-quality family nights.

Mayfield's Quality Cleaners has donated to scholarship accounts for our school and also made generous donations towards our Family Resource Center. Barry and Stephanie have faith and belief in the school and community, so much so, they have committed to an annual contribution to support the resource room in honor of their parents, Mayfield and WIllie Mae Evans who were prominent black leaders. Our school would like to recognize the support of the Evans family and will include the family in the naming of our Family Resource Center in their honor.

Supporting our Family Resource Center by providing much needed basic supplies to community members impacts both academic and health and wellness. Barry and Stephanie are extremely supportive. They deeply care about our school and have told us many times, whatever you need, "we are here." The work can be overwhelming, and it is so impactful to know we have supporters in the community cheering us on. We have supplied the Evanses with spirit wear and continue to share in communicating with them the joy their generous gifts bring to our community.

Papa Murphy’s Pizza and Ocean View Elementary School

Kristin Taylor 

We started our partnership with Papa Murphy’s in August of 2022. Kristin came to our school, introduced herself and brought coupons and gift certificates for staff and students. She recently took ownership of the Huffman location and wanted to create a productive partnership with our school.

Papa Murphy’s collaborated with our school on a winter clothing drive, with testing incentives and through providing materials for our annual Fun Run. Kristin Taylor has always been a pillar of support for our school during this year. She not only says yes and creates opportunities for our staff and students, but she also genuinely cares about making our school environment a positive one.

Our school celebrates the staff and owners at Papa Murphy’s with cards, goodie bags and a strong relationship that hopefully lasts for years to come.

Texas Roadhouse and Kincaid Elementary School

Ashley Meeker

 

Kincaid and Texas Roadhouse Southside Anchorage have been partners for 5 years. The business invited the principal to a luncheon to hear more about how the business can support our school community. I attended the luncheon and signed up.

Texas Roadhouse supports the school with monthly teacher and student awards. We have two community events at the store called Dine-Out Nights. Texas Roadhouse has given monetary donations each year, approximately $800 per year. Donations support positive school climate and incentives for students. For example, we purchased root beer float supplies to reward grade level teams who demonstrated positive behaviors every day on the playground for 3 weeks without a referral. Every 3 weeks, we were able to give a root beer float party. Texas Roadhouse has donated meals for staff during parent/teacher conferences. The most surprising event was on February 3, when Texas Roadhouse supplied a hot meal to the entire school because Kincaid has gone without hot meal service all year. It was a real blessing to the entire school community.

Students and staff get acknowledged for kindness and for their hard work. Staff are called our Top Coyote for the month, receive a dinner for 2 at Texas Roadhouse. Students earn Coyote tickets that go in a bucket. Students can earn a chance to receive a meal at Texas Roadhouse. Texas Roadhouse sends Andy the Armadillo, to visit the school. Kids LOVE this!

Bev coordinated with the school. She is excellent at follow-through. She sends emails and flyers. I have called and asked for extra certificates at times, and promptly receive them. The school gives back by promoting the business partner in every newsletter to families. We encourage our community to Dine-Out on our school-designated nights. We promote the business on our social media page.