Projects and Activities Funded by the Glastonbury Education Foundation

Recent GEF Funded Projects and Activities

State-of-the-Art Digital Television, Radio, Video and Sound Studio for the High School
In May of 2007 the Glastonbury Education Foundation Television Production Center was officially dedicated and “opened for business”.  The Foundation raised over $145,000 in a two-year period to equip this state-of-the-art studio.  In the fall of 2007 high school students will begin attending new courses offered in the fields of television broadcasting, videography, and lighting and sound for stage and television.  The studio is also a resource that will be made available to the community and local businesses.

Audio Enhancement Pilot Project
Over the 2005/6 school year, ten Glastonbury school classrooms (K-12) were equipped with exciting new audio enhancement technology courtesy of the Foundation.  Each classroom received an audio enhancement receiver, 4 ceiling-mounted speakers, a hands-free wireless microphone, and a handheld wireless microphone at a cost of $1,200 per classroom.  The audio enhancement systems were an unmitigated success.  Participating teachers raved about their ability to deliver instruction in a calm and even tone of voice, to gain and redirect the attention of all students regardless of where they sit, and to engage students, even reserved and soft-spoken students, in teacher and student presentations.  Due to the demonstrated success of this project, each of the classrooms in the town’s newly built elementary school has been equipped with this technology.

Tablet Laptop Pilot Project
Five classrooms were selected to pilot tablet laptop technology in 2005/6.  The Foundation provided each classroom with one tablet laptop computer, one LCD projector, and four student inter-write pads at a cost of $4,000 per classroom.  Results from the pilot project were mixed.  Teachers using the tablets reported increased and sustained student attention and motivation and an incredible expansion of teaching opportunities.  However, younger students had some difficulty with the fine-motor skills required to write on the pads while viewing the projection screen.  The Board of Education will continue to pilot and evaluate similar tablet laptop technology for future use.

Visiting Expert Program
The Foundation received overwhelmingly positive feedback on two visiting expert speakers it was able to bring to Glastonbury in 2005/6.  Pulitzer Prize winning author and world-renowned historian Doris Kearns Goodwin spoke to students, teachers, and community leaders at Glastonbury High School about leadership styles today, drawing from her recent work, Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln.  Also, nationally known expert on adolescent brain development, Michael Nerney, spoke with parents and social service professionals and held workshops for teachers.

Community Survey
A resident survey was distributed to every household in Glastonbury in 2005 through a one-time grant the Foundation made to the University of Connecticut’s Center for Survey Research & Analysis in conjunction with the Glastonbury Chamber of Commerce.  This project enabled both the Foundation and the Chamber to learn from the community what issues and ideas they would like to see addressed. 

Smaller Community Based Grants
In the last few years the Glastonbury Education Foundation has also distributed smaller community grants for computers and monitors donated to families without home computers, for school supplies distributed through the Social Services Department and grants to organizations such as the Glastonbury Alcohol and Drug Council and the ABC House.