Outreach

The DeKalb Central Foundation has awarded the following grants:

• Purchased digital books for DHS freshman English class to support a project-based learning unit. 

• Helped purchase 24 balanced bikes and helmets for the physical education classes at James R. Watson, McKenney-Harrison, Country Meadow, and Waterloo Elementary Schools to help students improve their balance and learn how to ride a bike. Good balance enables students to concentrate, sit still, and listen when required, to think clearly, to succeed at reading, spelling, and mathematics, and to develop skills in sporting activities. 

• Brought the "Faces of The Civil War" traveling exhibit from the Indiana Historical Society to DeKalb Middle School 8th-grade Humanities classes.

• Provided financial support for professional development in Project Based Learning to DeKalb Middle School and DeKalb High School teachers. The training will enable teachers to create student-centered learning opportunities for students that challenge them to solve real-world problems in our community while growing their Portrait of a Baron competencies and STEM and STEAM initiatives.

• Provided three $800 scholarships to DHS Seniors. One scholarship was for students continuing their education after high school. Another scholarship was to support students going directly into the military after high school, and the third scholarship was to support students going into the workforce in their chosen career path. 

• Financially supported DeKalb High School's DNT Freshman Consumer Communications Class by purchasing the books the students created over each of the Portrait of a Baron Graduate Competencies/Attributes. DHS students created one book for each competency, and then they read them to elementary students to reinforce Portrait of a Baron. Each of the four elementary schools got to keep a set of books for teachers to use in the years to come!

• Financially supported the applied skills students at both DeKalb Middle School and DeKalb High School with an opportunity to go to Garrett Bowl and Paradise Buffet to work on community skills, behavior, social skills, and restaurant skills. 

• Purchased Lice Treatments for families.

• Financially supported DHS's Baron Friends Club for a holiday activity. Baron Friends Club matches students with and without disabilities to do activities together. 

• Purchased equipment to create and provide a sensory program at DeKalb Middle School for alml students use. 

• Provided $1,000 Senior Scholarship 

• Purchased Yoga Mats for PE Classes

• Donated to STARTedUP Foundation, DeKalb Chapter - To give students the opportunity to be a part of the entrepreneurship program to be a part of Innovate Within and Launch Tank DeKalb. 

• Provided Graphing Calculators - For the six DHS courses where graphing calculators are required.

• Purchased Personal Hygiene Products for School Nurses

• Helped Sponsor Cybersecurity Event - DeKalb County Central USD welcomed Cathie Bledsoe for a Cybersecurity event. Ms. Bledsoe is an Internet Crimes Against Children Youth educator with the Indiana State Police. Topics that were included: Phone Safety, Cyberbullying, and Social Media Safety 

• Funded Global Grit Fair for New Tech World Bio Students - The project allowed students to investigate how nutrition impacts people around the world. This real-world project allowed students to explore the human population on a global scale and the characteristics of the rising human population. Students worked together in teams to create a menu and shop for three meals per day for a week. At the end of the unit, students delivered all of the groceries to the Warm-A-Heart Food Pantry in Waterloo and the County Line Church of God Food Pantry on the Auburn campus. 

• Financially supported DeKalb County’s Special Olympics Basketball Team - The DCF donated money to DeKalb County’s Special Olympics Basketball Team so they could go to Seattle to represent DeKalb at the USA games! Members of the DCF were happy to welcome home our team, the Gold Medal recipients, at their county-wide celebration. 

• DeKalb Central Schools Teacher Resource Store - Teachers were given an annual amount to “go shopping” for classroom supplies in our DCF Teacher Resource Store such as computer mice, post-its, external storage devices, highlighters, and Expo markers, etc.

• New Teacher Welcoming Baskets - New teachers were given a basket of classroom supplies to help start their school year off right!