Prosper Rotary Club Meeting of 05/11/23

 

 

SPEAKER TODAY
Michael Uber and Christy Zuehl Speaking to the Prosper Educationa Foundation's Dual Language Scholarship Fund

 

Mike and Christy are raising funds for the Dual Language Scholarship Fund.  The Dual Language Scholarship is awarded through Prosper Education Foundation (PEF) and is currently distributed as (1) $1,000 award per high school campus annually.  This year, we distributed $2,000 to recipients at Prosper High School and Rock Hill High School.  Next year, we plan to offer (3) scholarships - to account for the new Walnut Grove High School opening.

 

The Dual Language program in PISD is relatively unique to our district, and offers an incredible language-learning opportunity to its students.  The program exists fundamentally to accommodate non-native English speakers in our district, as is required by law.  However, it been enhanced to allow non-native Spanish speakers to participate in an equal ratio to the English learners, to foster a 2-way language learning model, which effectively leaves both sides with impressive rates of language fluency in their non-native languages by the end of elementary school.   The 2-way model offers learning in bilingual pairs, where students are grouped together in equal numbers of English- and Spanish-native speakers, which allows the students to bond really well with each other and learn from each other along the way.

 

Due to the structure of the program, almost all of the recipients of this scholarship are long-term PISD students.  This year’s recipients were both K-12 PISD graduates, as the program begins in Kindergarten, and it’s rare to have students who relocate to the district from other dual language programs join after that first year.

 

There are too many great things to say about the students in this program, and the program itself - we could definitely go on for a LONG time!  At the end of the day, we are basically looking for commitments of substantial and sustained support of this fund to ensure it remains viable for many years to come.  We are utilizing several means of fundraising to not only cover our annual commitments to the recipients of this scholarship, but also to build annual surpluses as we seek to reach endowment levels, and also prepare for rising award amounts down the road. 

 

Here's a link to the Canva Power Point version of the presentation: https://www.canva.com/design/DAFieRS4T90/_AI1RXPkGlWRpCqm-o6L8g/view

 

    

 

 

 

Elizabeth Johnston  / Prosper Education Foundation, Executive Director
Plus Several Students From Prosper Rock Hill High School Interested in Community Service Opportunities

 

 

Calling All Volunteers:
https://prosperrotary.org/4896/Page/Show?ClassCode=Page&Slug=volunteer-opportunities