Grants from The East Fund Make an Impact on Education!

Learn how East Fund grants are making a difference to students' education! Read comments from staff and students below...

Read a summary of grant awards...

A Passkey to Success

"As a Resource Teacher, the 'prescriptive nature' of the PassKey learning system has been very helpful for the range of students that I work with...." — Gary Mullinger, Resource Teacher, Shawnee Mission East Read his full comment

"PassKey is great to use in a small setting. It allows the teacher to individualize lessons and monitor progress. The program allows students to learn the material in sequential order with easy-to-follow instructions." — Julie Martin, Educational Aide, Shawnee Mission East

"what is nice about PassKey is that students can work at their own pace and, when needed, the instructor can easily individualize instruction for each student." — Mlies Martin, Teacher, Shawnee Mission East

Mathematics Technology Upgrade

"I love SMART Boards™! It's so easy to pay attention in class and so much fun!" — Junior Student

"The East Fund has been supportive of our math department with the two SMART Boards, four laptop computers, and software. We are using both SMART Boards daily with two of the laptops. Teachers and students are suing the other two laptops for projects and at computer science contests. The SMART Boards have been so successful that we are seeking funding through the district for a third one that we will use with one of the existing laptops. Thanks for helping us to better serve the students here at Shawnee Mission East!" — Carolyn Seeley, Math Teacher, Shawnee Mission East

"I used the SMART Board in my Geometry Honors class. It was...easier to follow the lessons due to its ability to manipulate geometric figures easily. It made the lessons more interesting to follow." — Sophomore Student

"SMART Boards in math class have made figures and information easier to see and understand. They are more interactive, so class participation improved greatly." — Sophomore Student

"SMART Boards made math so much more fun. The geometric figures were so much easier to see and understand. Class participation improved because the information was easy to understand. It was also very easy to see." — Sophomore Student

"Using the SMART Board made learning the concept easier and a lot more fun. It made kids get more into the concepts because it was more visual and more hands-on. Kids also get to try it themselves instead of just watching it on an overhead or whiteboard." — Sophomore Student

"I really enjoyed having a SMART Board in my Geometry class last year. Most of the kids in my class hadn't seen anything like a SMART Board before, so most of us were fascinated. I noticed that it kept the class more interested and more involved. Using the SMART Board seemed to increase the class participation because it was more of an interactive learning device. And it didn't hurt that you could change the colors and make thing trace." — Sophomore Student

"The SMART Board is a very useful tool. As a visual person, the 3D images created on the SMART Board worked well. It allowed me to visualize the shapes so that I could solve problems. ... The SMART Board allows teachers to communicate better with their students through visualization. The SMART Board also allows for a variation in teaching. If students are not well-suited for the overhead, then the SMART Board allows another way to teach...." — Sophomore Student