Submitted by Lopez Island Education Foundation

Thanks to generous donations by locals to the Lopez Island Education Foundation, Lopez students have been able to participate in educational opportunities that go beyond what state funding and taxes can provide. On behalf of Lopez students, thank you.

Some of the activities your donations have enabled this year include:

• Taking 20 fifth-graders to visit the Museum of Flight in Seattle, to learn about aviation history and try their hand at a flight simulator.

• Supplies and a field trip to Seattle’s Uwajimaya store in Japantown as part of a five-day Japanese cooking intensive.

• A rowing machine to complement exercise equipment in the school fitness room.

• Transportation and hotel costs for the very popular (22 students) Math Olympiad competition in Bellingham.

• Rental of snorkels and wetsuits for a marine biology class to explore underwater marine biology off our beautiful shores.

• Materials such as blocks, magnets and Legos for teaching science and math to second-grade students.

• Two robot “brains” for an after-school robotics club for 36 students in grades four to eight.

• Participation by 24 students in journalism and U.S. history classes in a two-day nonviolence training with a curriculum that draws on the methods developed in the Civil Rights era by Martin Luther King, Jr.

This year so far in 2018, the foundation provided small grants to over 20 teachers who had a vision for an activity or training or tool that would complement their instruction. Exciting educational opportunities like these are part of what makes Lopez School a vibrant place to learn. This, in turn, keeps young families to the island and draws new families here as students graduate, providing the critical mass that a tiny school like Lopez school needs in order to survive in an era of dwindling state and federal resources for schools.

LIEF always welcomes new board members that have an interest in supporting Lopez school education. Donations to LIEF are tax deductible, and can be made online at www.lopezeducation.org or by check, payable to Lopez Island Education Foundation, P.O. Box 13, Lopez Island, WA 98261. Lopez school is also in need of an experienced grant writer to help identify and pursue grants that can further improve opportunities for Lopez students.