Stories of Success

What would you do with $5,000? For Cherry Creek Schools graduate Micha Handler, the answer was a no-brainer: support students in the ILC (special education) program at her alma mater through the Cherry Creek Schools Foundation.

Cue the confetti! Thanks to our generous community donors, the Cherry Creek Schools Foundation awarded a record number of grants to our amazing educators across the district! From creating spaces of belonging to programs that teach life skills to providing art and music adventures, let’s hear it for our educators enhancing the educational experience!

The CCSD Leadership Academy, which was supported by the generosity of our community, celebrated the graduation and continuation of its students this summer amidst tears, laughter, and special moments.

For recently-graduated Overland High School alum Jelane Elamo, giving back is one of the most important things in her life. Elamo, who was recently awarded the AVID Dare to Dream scholarship and the Linn Hogue Memorial Scholarship on behalf of the Cherry Creek Schools Foundation, will be attending the University of Minnesota and would like to pursue a career in the medical field.

More than 100 parents, family members, students, staff, and community members came together on April 3 for the Cherry Creek Schools’ first district-wide Financial Literacy Night, sponsored by the Cherry Creek Schools Foundation.

It was a night of celebration at the Cherry Creek Schools Foundation’s annual ELEVATE Gala, held at the Hyatt Regency DTC on March 28. The event raised approximately $561,000 to support students in Cherry Creek Schools with mental health programs, educator grants, emergency relief, and the Cherry Creek Schools Leadership Academy.

In March of 2020, the Foundation and its supporters faced a challenge like no other: a global pandemic that would change virtually everything. In the months to follow, many members of the community would need support – and even more members stepped in to help.

Thanks to a generous donation from the Tuchman Family Foundation, students at the newly-opened Traverse Academy received Welcome bags for students entering the program and Launch bags for students transitioning back to their home school. The items were selected by a committee of Traverse Academy staff members.

In 2011, Julian Flores was a senior at Overland High School who had just received the Dr. Monte C. Moses Scholarship. Born in Mexico, Flores began his journey with Cherry Creek Schools at Village East Elementary. His first-grade teacher, Dr. Sandy Mason, shares her memories of working with a dedicated and inspirational AVID student.

"I’d like to tell you a little bit about one of my favorite programs that the Foundation has funded, and that’s the Summer Leadership Academy. This program was made possible through the collaboration of not just Cherry Creek Schools and the Foundation, but the dedication of community leaders who also believe in these students’ ability to create positive change in our world."

From October 2010 to May 2011, the Smoky Hill High School library coordinator Jennifer Radosevich created “AVID” readers out of her ninth-graders, thanks to an Educator Initiative Grant (EIG).

Today’s historical artifact comes to us from July of 1996 – a newspaper article from The Villager about the first-of-its-kind Summer Chorale Experience at Cherry Creek High School. 54 students in grades 7-12 attended a week-long choir intensive funded by the Cherry Creek Schools Foundation and the Kenneth Kendal King Foundation. The week culminated in a free concert for more than 350 parents, friends, and community members.

In 2016, CCSD voters approved the construction of a new kind of school – an innovation campus that would give students the chance to learn valuable skills and a pathway to a career. The Cherry Creek Innovation Campus (CCIC) opened in 2019, but the work to build the building and its curriculum would take years. Fortunately, the Foundation was a key partner in connecting the school district with leaders in the industries that would later become the pathways of the school: Advanced Manufacturing, Business Services, Health & Wellness, Hospitality & Tourism, Infrastructure Engineering, IT & STEAM, and Transportation.

When Jordan Walton first walked the halls of Overland High School, she didn’t know she would one day be a Cherry Creek Schools educator. Thanks to the Dr. Monte C. Moses Future Educator Scholarship that she received in 2018, Walton had the support she needed to return to the district and become a special education teacher.

If you’ve never had the opportunity to deliver a GIANT check for grant money to a teacher, we hope one day you’ll get the chance! The Foundation has become synonymous with “classroom grants,” funding the imagination and innovation of teachers. The Educator Initiative Grant program has been one of our most successful programs, funding programs, ideas, and technology – with quite a few ideas making their way to become part of every school!

One of the most engaging programs of the Cherry Creek Schools Foundation was the Cardboard Challenge. Started in 2013, this event invited students to design and create using only the medium of – you guessed it! – cardboard! From robots to villages to amusement parks, the only limit for design was students’ imagination.

Over the Foundation’s thirty-year history, there have been countless donors, volunteers, and CCSD staff who have been part of our journey. One important part of the Foundation’s history is Dr. Monte C. Moses, who was the superintendent of Cherry Creek Schools from 2000 - 2009. In addition to supporting students through the Dr. Monte C. Moses Future Educator Scholarship, Dr. Moses has been a champion of the Foundation from the beginning.

Alumni are a living testament to the success of a school district. From our students’ first days with us to the day they walk across the stage, we know how much a school can shape a person’s life – and how much a person can shape a school! Whether it’s the friends they made, the clubs they started, or the accomplishments they remember, our alumni are proud members of the Cherry Creek Schools family.

Did you know the Cherry Creek Schools Communications department used to send out a PAPER version of a newsletter? We found this newsletter from May 1993, which featured an announcement about the Cherry Creek School Foundation’s first Board.

In 1999, supporters of the Cherry Creek Schools Foundation learned how their generosity was making a positive impact on students. “Planting the Seeds of Excellence,” our annual impact report, tells a story of challenge and perseverance. Colorado was ranked 49th in the country for K-12 educational spending, with 25% of its high school students not graduating. However, Cherry Creek Schools continued to score above average on state and national assessments while graduating more than 86% of our students.

The week of November 18, 1994, the Denver Business Journal wrote an article about a new trend: public school districts launching their own foundations to help support the school district and build community.

In 2009, the life of Kara Sanderlin (now Davisson) changed when she learned that she would receive the Monte Moses Future Educators Scholarship. Four years later, Kara wrote a letter to the scholarship committee to share how life-changing this opportunity was for her.

On January 19, 1995, an advertisement in the Villager newspaper asked a very important question: “How can we turn lemons into lemonade?” That was the same year that Cherry Creek Schools tried to pass a budget election, but the measure failed to pass. This is the CCSF’s first-ever advertisement, letting our community know that plenty of folks in our community support the critical funding of our schools and encouraging them to support the Foundation.

Celebrating 30 Years of History! Today’s historical artifact is an agenda from October 8, 1992, outlining the next steps to develop the Foundation’s mission, governance, marketing, and funding priorities. (Our agendas thirty years later look pretty similar!)

The year was 1990. It was the year of the reunification of Germany, the first steps of the Internet, the release of Nelson Mandela, and the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope. It was also the launch of a new idea – a foundation dedicated to serving the students, staff, and community of the Cherry Creek School District.

Thanks to the Mitch Hanson Memorial Scholarship, named in memory of a beloved Smoky Hill High School teacher, Cherry Creek Schools students who had Hanson as an educator have been able to honor his legacy.

Fifth-grade students at Trails West Elementary marked their last year at the school with a special construction project, building a reading nook for the school’s library using materials funded from an Educator Initiative Grant (EIG).

David Rowe and Lesley Philipps, English teachers at Cherry Creek High School, have been working with their tenth-grade students to identify and grow their strengths using the CliftonStrengths for Students, thanks to an Educator Initiative Grant from the Cherry Creek Schools Foundation.

Fifth grader students at Sunrise and Summit Elementaries have been designing, creating and marketing their own sneakers, thanks to funding from the Cherry Creek Schools Foundation and other funding sources.

At Fox Hollow Elementary, fifth graders in Jen Sevy’s STEM class have been designing and making robotic creatures, thanks to an Educator Initiative Grant from the Cherry Creek Schools Foundation.

The Cherry Creek Schools community came together March 30 to honor some of the best and brightest educators in the district, while also supporting and honoring the Cherry Creek Schools Foundation, which helps make their innovative work possible.

Cherry Creek Schools recently announced the 65 honorees for Educator of the Year, a group of talented and dedicated individuals who will be celebrated at the Cherry Creek Schools Foundation Elevate Gala and Educator of the Year Event on Thursday, March 30. The event is an opportunity to recognize these amazing educators and support the Foundation, which supports schools with funding for classroom innovation, emergency relief for families, and mental health programming.

Multilingual students in Buffalo Trail Elementary’s Math Club are getting to embrace their love of math on a whole other level, thanks to an Educator Initiative Grant (EIG). Students in the club have been enjoying the new materials, explaining that they love math (even if it’s challenging) and how there are always adults who can help them learn new strategies and ways of thinking.

This past summer, students from across the district came together to experience the first Summer Leadership Academy (SLA), a program designed to empower students with skills like conflict resolution, communication, collaboration and more. This program was funded by donors like you to support students in pursuing their passion and pathway of purpose. Two students from the program, Issa Zavala and Jay Dreger, shared some of what they learned from this valuable program.

Thanks to an Educator Initiative Grant, Aurora's Poet Laureate Ahja Fox visited Prairie Middle School to share her passion of poetry with students who sat where she sat when she attended the school herself.

Riding a bike for the first time can be exciting and educational. For kindergarten students at Eastridge Community Elementary School, learning to ride a bike was made possible by an Educator Initiative Grant (EIG) from the Cherry Creek Schools Foundation.

In Julia Byer’s Latin class at Eaglecrest High School, students dive into stories of mythical beasts and ancient rulers. Far from seeing Latin as the dusty, dead language that Byers says is the stereotype, her students have transformed their thinking and engaged deeply with the help of an Educator Initiative Grant (EIG).

Students in Amanda Arlington’s art class at Canyon Creek Elementary School got to create and explore a solar system and rainforest as part of a collaborative project funded by an Educator Initiative Grant (EIG). Arlington wanted to find a way to bring a museum experience to her kindergarten, first, and second grade students to create an art installation with “real” rockets and pollinators.

When Canyon Creek Elementary’s STEM teacher Brian Hostetler applied for an Educator Initiative Grant (EIG), he knew he wanted to help students build a LEGO amusement park AND build their design skills. Over the course of a month, about 200 first and second graders were able to create a LEGO-sized amusement park with rides, concession stands, ticket booths and more. The students used design thinking to create, prototype and perfect their creations – which often led to new and exciting discoveries.

More than 200 educators across Cherry Creek Schools have been awarded with an Educator Initiative Grant (EIG) for the 2022-23 school year, thanks to generous donations to the Cherry Creek Schools Foundation.

When Baochau Thomas welcomed her seventh-grade students back to Horizon Community Middle School in the 2021-22 school year, she noticed that her students were still processing the isolation and virtual learning from the prior year. After talking with other teachers, she knew students could use a hands-on way to practice conflict management and empathy skills. Thanks to an Educator Initiative Grant from the CCSF, Thomas was able to create a sense of community and belonging.

CCSD's first Summer Leadership Academy and Anti-Violence Initiative gave more than 20 high school students the chance to learn important lessons about creating goals, forging a social contract, communicating, and finding non-violent solutions to real issues.

The Colorado Health Careers Collaborative Program at Arapahoe Community College gave dozens of CCSD students the chance to explore a myriad of careers in the healthcare field, including nursing, radiology, and medical lab sciences.

Hundreds of students, parents, and community members took part in this year's STEAM-a-Palooza event held Oct. 8 at the CCIC, which was sponsored in part by the Cherry Creek Schools Foundation. The annual celebration of all things Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math (STEAM) was a huge success, as it featured input from industry partners and interactive learning activities.

Charles Gilford III, a Grandview High School alum and CCSF Board Member, gained valuable perspectives from his time in the Cherry Creek School District. Throughout his leadership posts in academia, the private sector, and government, he's stayed true to the core values instilled in him as a student and CCSD community member.

The Mental Health Relief Fund is a partnership between the Cherry Creek Schools Foundation (CCSF) and the district’s Office of Student Health, the first of its kind and unique in its goal to provide referrals for students to outside mental health providers.

Educator Initiative Grants are one of the ways the Cherry Creek Schools Foundation (CCSF) supports innovation and engagement in schools. These grants are possible because of donations from community members, which go to help educators purchase curriculum, technology, materials, or other resources to support student learning. This year, 327 educators applied for an EIG, a significant increase compared to previous years.

As mental health becomes an increasingly high priority for students, their families, and our community, the Cherry Creek Schools Foundation recently launched a Mental Health Fund to support mental health initiatives across the district.

As the cost of school supplies continues to rise, students and families in the Cherry Creek Schools found relief through a generous donation of more than $9,000 worth of school supplies distributed to eleven schools by the Cherry Creek Schools Foundation (CCSF).

Students at Greenwood Elementary School in Cherry Creek Schools are getting a cornucopia of hands-on science lessons all organized around a single project funded by a Foundation Educator Initiative Grant, the Tower Garden.

The Foundation provided funding in support of the Cherry Creek School District Summer Launch Program, a program that allowed middle school students to get a head start in their new schools and acclimating to a new environment with new people.

The Cherry Creek Schools Foundation, with the help of donors and volunteers, purchased and filled over 1,700 backpacks with school supplies for students in need to start the 2021-22 school year.

A Cherry Creek Schools family utilized a fun quarantine activity to stay active in order to raise money for the Cherry Creek Schools Foundation's campaign provide students in need with internet access

Cherry Creek High School freshman painter featured at the local French Press Café donates a portion of sale proceeds to the Cherry Creek Schools Foundation to better educational opportunities for students in the district.

Cherry Creek School District alum and cast member of Tony-award winning phenomenon Hamilton Gregory Treco is performing at the Foundation's Invest in Success Gala to give back to future generations.

Through the years, the Cherry Creek Schools Foundation has had corporations support our cause to impact and advance public education through opportunity and innovation. Plante Moran is this month's Corporate Champion.

Mission Viejo Elementary teacher and EIG recipient Charles Kastens and his students adapted to the shifting remote learning and in-person learning changes by beginning a Random Acts of Kindness project on three different levels.

Colorado is experiencing a teacher shortage. The Cherry Creek School District, CareerWise Colorado and the Foundation have partnered to provide students with equal access to paid apprenticeships that will provide experience, college credit and a fast-track toward becoming a teacher.

The Cherry Creek Schools Foundation funds grants to teachers and staff for new and innovative learning programs, initiatives and techniques that are later adopted as a whole by the district. Recently, the app SeeSaw was implemented as a learning tool for students during the pandemic.

Through the years, the Cherry Creek Schools Foundation has had corporations support our cause to impact and advance public education through opportunity and innovation. Arrow Electronics is months Corporate Champion.

The Cherry Creek Schools Foundation had an amazing year of fundraising and giving after donating a little over $723,066 to the Cherry Creek School District in support of educational excellence, innovation, opportunity and equity.

Cherry Creek Schools' Stephen Zhang and Youth Creates pulled their resources and raised money to provide over 44,000 of PPE to hospitals and make a donation to the Cherry Creek Schools Foundation.

Technology-based company Pax8 donated 50 backpacks to Mission Viejo Elementary School filled with school supplies and additional funds to the Cherry Creek Schools Foundation in support of education.

In partnership with the Cherry Creek School District, Prosono Company and volunteer organization Helping Habit, the Foundation helped fund and will be distributing 4,000 school supply kits for students across CCSD. Thanks to generous volunteers from around the community, kids will be able to receive basic necessities that are key to remote learning at home (paper, pencils, colored pencils, etc.)

Cherry Creek Innovation Campus teachers as well as five other sites in Cherry Creek Schools are manufacturing personal protective equipment (PPE) for healthcare workers during the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis.

The Cherry Creek Schools Foundation donated $15,000 in partnership with the Cherry Creek School District to the "Breakfast, Lunch and a Book" program. The program provides kids 18 and under with grab-and-go meals as well as a book during their time away from school due to coronavirus (COVID-19).

The 6th Annual Invest in Success Gala was a huge success because of the amazing community supporting the students and teachers in Cherry Creek Schools. The Foundation raised $365,000 dollars to support the innovative and creative educational techniques CCSD teachers are implementing their classrooms with Educator Initiative Grants.

Cherry Creek Schools' Diana Huston, a second-grade teacher at Aspen Crossing Elementary, won an Educator Initiative Grant (EIG) last year for a program called Project A.C.E. The A.C.E. stands for All Children Engaged. Project A.C.E. allowed all students in grades first through fifth to participate in a class they found interesting once a week for four weeks, twice during the school year.

"Everything exists here. It's a great opportunity for kids and families to come find that inspiration." CCSD Superintendent Scott Siegfried was only one of thousands to attend the Cherry Creek Schools Foundation's annual STEAM-A-Palooza event on Nov. 9. For its fifth year, the event featured a wide array of events and activities rooted in science, technology, engineering, arts and math.

Karen Hampel, school social worker and behavior support coach at the Hollies, was awarded an Educator Initiative Grant (EIG) last year to purchase different sensory tools and containers, then created a pilot program to introduce students to the tools.

The Cherry Creek Schools Foundation is always looking to invest in the success of students within the Cherry Creek School District. In a world full of new technology and innovation, we were privileged to take part in funding creative new programs that the district's newest elementary school, Altitude, could use to nurture and grow the minds of its young students.

While every one of our partnerships has measurable impacts on our programmatic reach, one of those standout corporate partners who has played an essential role in supporting student achievement at Cherry Creek Schools is Enterprise Rent-A-Car, the flagship brand of Enterprise Holdings. Not only does an Enterprise Rent-A-Car executive serve as the chairman of the Foundation, the company has generously supported students and educators through Foundation giving.

More than 600 business, civic and community leaders attended Cherry Creek Schools Foundation's 5th Annual Invest in Success Gala at the Denver Marriott Tech Center on March 28. Donors and corporate sponsors, together, raised more than $300,000 to support equity and innovation initiatives at Cherry Creek Schools.

Fusing the worlds of art and technology was part of what drove Smoky Hill visual arts teacher Joshua Teplitzky to secure the 3-D Potter tool for his students. Teplitzky, whose interest in the tool was first sparked at a national pottery conference, realized that the tool had the potential to appeal to a wide array of students. Those rooted in the world of traditional visual arts could find a bridge to Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), while those students more oriented towards tech could discover a way to tap into their creativity.

Last year was one for the books. Through the generous giving of our donors and corporate partners, Cherry Creek Schools Foundation was able to raise a total of $925,000. Most important of all, we gave $440,000 to our schools between July and December alone thanks to you! Here's how we spent that money to support students and educators.

Cherry Creek Schools Foundation can help you check off your New Year's resolutions while supporting our schools! Through a new partnership with Fine Airport Parking Denver, anyone can save 20 percent off airport parking at Denver International Airport. An additional 10 percent of each transaction will be donated back to the Foundation to support students and educators at Cherry Creek Schools. Start saving today by following these three easy steps.

This year, the Foundation approved 33 percent more grants this year than it did in 2017, and more than half of Cherry Creek Schools student population will be impacted by its 2018 round of giving. As the needs of students continue to grow and evolve at Cherry Creek Schools, our teachers on the front line of education continue to mount difficulties in ensuring every child has opportunity. That's why these grants are more important than ever to fill in the gaps.

We still need your help to win! Click this link http://wshe.es/SKav5fxA , and vote before noon on Nov. 7. Every vote counts as we attempt to reach the third and final round of the competition to win one of three cash prizes, including the grand prize of $15,000.

Cherry Creek Schools Foundation is competing for up to $15,000 in the Plante Moran Cares Charity Contest. (Click here to vote!) We need to make it through three rounds of voting, and the first round ends on Oct. 29. Only the top 20 most voted on charities will move onto Round 2. It's so easy; here are the three steps.

"The Cardboard Challenge is something that is inspired by a child, and so it really shows you how kids thing and how broad they think," said Cherry Creek Schools Foundation board chairman Steve Topalian. "It's an event about creativity. It's an event about letting kids be kids and just building things with whatever comes to mind and what's important to them."

Cherry Creek Schools Superintendent Dr. Scott Siegfried added that the cornerstones of the Cardboard Challenge, a competition inspired by the 2012 documentary film "Caine's Arcade" directed by Nirvan Mullick, align with the district's recent work around innovation and 21st-century learning. Just as the district has worked to connect students at all levels with tools to encourage creativity, problem-solving and collaboration, so has the Cardboard Challenge encouraged a hands-on approach to learning, building and discovering.

Cherry Creek Schools Foundation is reaching out to the community for volunteers to participate as judges in the 6th Annual Cardboard Challenge on October 10 at Smoky Hill High School. No experience is required, just your enthusiasm!

"Graphic novels are so engaging and easy to get in to, but they also have really deep content," said Dakota Valley English teacher Lauren Bone, who uses contemporary titles to ramp up enthusiasm for reading in her classes.

Buffalo Trail's "Let's Cook" classes seek to impart a wide variety of lessons and skills.

Students at Mission Viejo Elementary School have learned that robots can be pretty amenable to suggestions, as long as they're getting the right commands. A set of programmable robots called Pro-Bots offer lessons about the fundamentals of programming.

Many students are more focused when both mind and body are moving.

More than 550 attended the Cherry Creek Schools Foundation Gala on March 8, and the event raised more than $300,000 for CCSD students, teachers and community members.

A mentorship program rooted in the AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) program has connected elementary and high school students, with a view of encouraging strong academic habits and envisioning future careers.

Over the course of four years, students have launched more than 100 weather balloon experiments at schools across the district. Funded in part from grants from the Cherry Creek Schools Foundation, the experiments have become a valuable part of STEM ed.

Thanks in part to funding from the CCSF, students at Fox Ridge have access to Google Cardboard, an app that pairs a smartphone with a simple set of cardboard glasses to transport users to another time and place.

On Dec. 6, members of Laredo Middle School's G-STEM (Girls-STEM) Club, an after-school Science, Technology, Engineering and Math club for young black women, visited the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs to explore careers in science.

As in past years, the 2017 STEAM-A-Palooza event invited students, staff and community members from across the district to fuse STEM and the arts, to view traditionally separate fields of study as part of a larger whole.

This year the Cherry Creek Schools Foundation awarded a record number of Educator Initiative Grants across the district.

More than 600 students demonstrated their ingenuity and displayed amazing creatures and contraptions at the 5th Annual Cardboard Challenge.

Students in schools across the Cherry Creek School District submitting projects for this year's Cardboard Challenge, which takes place on Oct. 12 at Smoky Hill High School.

Village East fifth-graders and CCHS DECA members took part in the Young AmeriTowne program through the Young Americans Center for Financial Education, a program that stresses financial literacy.

Thousands of students, teachers, staff members and parents gathered at buildings across the Cherry Creek School District's 108 square miles to watch the solar eclipse on Aug. 21.

The 'Brotherhood' and 'Sisterhood' after-school organizations at Holly Hills teach students to get excited about school, community and the future.

An airshow held at Arrowhead Elementary School on May 8 featured displays of RC airplane flights, as well as interactive activities rooted in STEM and aviation.

At Endeavor, new Arduino equipment has given students a new level of access and insight into STEM projects, connecting them with tactile and challenging tasks with immediate and impressive results.

Smoky Hill High School Unified team's latest championship win sums up spirit of teamwork and hard-work.

Cherry Creek Schools Foundation's 4th Annual Invest in Success Gala was a celebration of impact, innovation and opportunity for all students across the Cherry Creek School District.

For the 2021-22 school year, our donors have funded over 100 projects at schools across the Cherry Creek School District. Altogether, our donors have provided more than 1,000 grants like these to CCSD educators totaling $113,000 – positively impacting generations of students.