Auburn-Washburn Foundation

The Auburn-Washburn Public Schools Foundation is made up of of parents, community members, and district staff who work together to provide alternative means to enhance, enrich, and expand education programs, which are unavailable via conventional funding, for Auburn-Washburn students.

Contact

Questions or comments may be directed to:

Jessica Roberts
Director of Communications
(785) 339-4072
roberjes@usd437.net

Members

Ex-Officio

Social Media

Our grant program is one of many ways we work to enhance, enrich, and expand educational programs across the district! Thank you to the library at Washburn Rural High School for hosting this KEVA Plank Tower Building Competition.


Auburn-Washburn USD 437

Throughout the month of February, the library at Washburn Rural High School has been hosting a KEVA Plank Tower Building Competition. Made possible through the support of a grant from the Auburn-Washburn Public Schools Foundation, this activity provides several opportunities for growth and enrichment – math and science teachers use the act of building towers to reinforce classroom concepts and art teachers guide students in creating 2D and 3D renderings of the towers. Every class that visits benefits from a collaborative team-building exercise that sparks creativity!



Auburn-Washburn USD 437

In light of current road conditions, the decision has been made to cancel school in the Auburn-Washburn district today, Wednesday, January 10. We have had crews out assessing our bus routes this morning. While the main roads are passable, many areas, particularly those in the rural parts of the district, still pose challenges for travel. Our buses are unable to safely complete their routes this morning. Please stay safe and warm!


Auburn-Washburn USD 437

School has been canceled in the Auburn-Washburn district for Tuesday, January 9, due to inclement weather. Please be safe as this winter storm moves through our area.❄️

The hydroponic system at Farley Elementary School was one of 76 classroom grants we awarded this fall. We are delighted to see these fifth-graders harvesting their own foods and enjoying their vegetables!


Farley Elementary School

5th graders in Mrs. Hewitt’s class were able to finally taste the fruits of their labor! They have been growing several varieties of lettuce in their hydroponic system, which was funded through a grant from The Auburn-Washburn foundation! They have been responsible for maintaining the water and ph levels, adding nutrients, and the overall care of the produce.

Today they harvested romaine, butter lettuce, baby lettuce, komatsuna, bok choy, muir lettuce, and pomegranate crunch romaine. They said it was, “the best salad they had ever had!” 🥬💚🦊


So great to see teacher and student ingenuity recognized. If you'd like to support the Foundation to make more classroom grants possible, please visit our web page: https://usd437.net/foundation

https://www.cjonline.com/story/news/education/2023/05/09/washburn-rural-b3-alternative-forensic-science-miniature-crime-scenes/70183841007/


cjonline.com
At Washburn Rural, students are learning how to stage crimes — and solve them, too
Washburn Rural students are learning how to analyze crime scenes, handwriting, DNA, blood spatters and other types of evidence in forensic science.

Thank you to our sponsors and everyone who helped to make our 2023 Spring Breakfast a huge success!



Shawnee County Sheriff's Office

Auburn-Washburn Public Schools Foundation, thank you very much for the invitation to yesterday's breakfast! We enjoyed all the student performances as well as the recognition for all the amazing work by students and staff. Keep up the great work!

The Auburn-Washburn Public Schools Foundation provided some seed money earlier this year to help get this Classroom Grant project going. Now the school is working to grow the program through an innovative fundraiser.


Tallgrass Student Learning Center

Check out the seed varieties we started! We are offering them for sale as part of our fundraiser for our garden program. We are selling them based on size. Big plants are $5 and small plants are $4. Some plants are limited. More pictures coming soon. Feel free to message us!

Tomatoes
Sweetie Cherry
Supersweet Cherry
Gardeners Delight Cherry
Roma
Big Beef
Beefsteak
Better Boy
Brandywine
Roma VF
Early Girl Hybrid
Better Boy Hybrid
Brandywine
Big Beef Hybrid
Large Red Cherry

Peppers
Cayenne
Jalapeno
Anaheim
Serrano
Habanero
Sweet Pepper Carnival Blend
Giant Pepper
Jalapeno Mild
California Wonder

Herbs
Basil
Parsley
Lettuce
Dill
Cilantro

Flowers- varieties coming soon.

Multi-Grade Art Book Project

Last semester, Washburn Rural Middle School Art teacher Mindy Armstrong coordinated a special Foundation Classroom Grant project. Through the project, 8th grade design students got the opportunity to collaborate with 2nd graders at Jay Shideler Elementary School.

The 2nd grade students created an illustration of a monster, and each of WRMS students received two illustrations. The 8th graders had limited info of the monsters and first wrote a short story about the two monsters, and then they created a work of art that would illustrate the monsters to go with the story.

The Foundation Classroom Grant provided the printing of books of these short stories with illustrations of the 2nd graders’ and the 8th graders’ artwork. The grant provided a book for each 2nd grader, each 8th grader, and a teacher’s copy. There are four books in total, one for each class in 2nd grade at Jay Shideler.

On March 3rd the WRMS students took a field trip to Jay Shideler to meet the 2nd graders and read the book of short stories to them.

Also, it just happened to be Bob Ross Day in honor of Art Month at Jay Shideler on the day the WRMS students visited.


Elementary Artists Pop-Up Art Show Kickoff

In recognition of March as National Youth Art Month, over 200 works of art created by Auburn-Washburn K-6 grade students will sprout in favorite youth locations across the city. They will kick off the traveling art show on March 3 with a Free First Friday Artwalk Private Event for Auburn-Washburn student artists, their family, and friends at the Topeka Zoo from 5-7pm. Each piece of artwork includes a QR code to access more information about the work and artist.

All artwork will remain on display at the zoo through March 19, 2023 and can be viewed during normal business hours with a general admission ticket to the zoo.

On March 20th the art show will travel across Gage Park to the Kansas Discovery Center where it will sprout up for children and families to enjoy until March 31.

During the month of April, the artwork will continue to sprout up all over our community and finally return to each student’s school in May.

This Elementary Artists Pop-Up Art Show project was funded through a grant from the Auburn-Washburn Public Schools Foundation.