Introducing new recipient: Erie Neighborhood House!

Founded in 1870, Erie House now has four locations and serves the community in a plethora of ways: after school programming, citizenship classes, literacy initiatives, and adult ESL classes among many other services. Check them out at www.eriehouse.org. 

The Terri Race Tech Fund gave a grant to benefit their STEM programming by purchasing equipment for their robotics initiative! We also donated towards the Little Village READS program. Read more about both initiatives below and THANK YOU for doing your part in making technology accessible to more learners! 👏👏👏👏 “The robotics unit is part of a broader effort being made by Erie House to invest in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education across multiple programs. “Robotics has allowed our youth to develop skills beyond our expectations,” said YOU assistant director Maria Muñoz. “It gives students the opportunity to have fun while learning new ways to engage in STEM.” Muñoz indicates that the funds will help purchase materials to enhance robotics instruction. The grant is also timely, as staff are preparing for summer programming and are eager to offer students opportunities to expand upon learning that has taken place during the school year.

The grant will also enable the Little Village READS program to purchase licenses for Ticket to Read, an online reading program designed to support literacy growth for students in kindergarten through 6th grade. “We’re constantly looking for fun, engaging ways to integrate STEM learning into our programs for children and youth,” said Erie House executive director Kirstin Chernawsky. “The support we have received from the Terri Race Educational Technology Fund will help us achieve that goal.” The Terri Race Educational Technology Fund’s mission is to enhance the education of under-resourced students by providing access to technology.

Students at Erie House work with the new robotics equipment.

Update on Laptop Recipient Emma!

Emma Vejcik was awarded the Terri Race Tech Fund Scholarship through the OPRF Local Scholarship Foundation in 2017. In 2018, Emma applied for a grant from the TRTF in order to purchase a laptop. We were so happy to receive this update from her:

"Last winter I received a scholarship for my freshmen year of college. I am so incredibly grateful for having received your assistance and funding for my academic endeavors. I have just completed my first semester at Smith College in Massachusetts and it would have been impossible without your support. I took four classes this past semester – 17 credit hours. I was also granted a laptop through your funding this past summer, which I used to extreme success throughout my classes. I plan to pursue my studies at Smith thanks to your help, studying Graphic Design and Computer Science. I will hopefully graduate in 2022 with at least 64 credit hours and a major in one or both of these fields.

Thanks to your funding, I am several steps closer to this goal. Your generosity has helped push me to continue my studies. I hope I will one day be able to better others lives in academia just as you have mine."

Best of luck to Emma as she continues at Smith!

Golder Laptop Scholars 2019

Thanks to your donations and support of the fund, we were able to continue awarding brand new MacBook Pro laptops to two graduating seniors and two alumni of Golder College Prep in Chicago. A bit about each of our recipients:

Osvaldo & Edisa, class of 2019

1. Veronica Camacho: Veronica graduated from Golder College Prep in 2015 and went on to study pre-nursing at UIC in Chicago. She was recently accepted to Resurrection University to complete her BSN. In addition to school, Vero works at Swedish Covenant Hospital. She hopes to be a psychiatric nurse when she graduates in August of 2020! Keep up the great work, Vero, and we hope the laptop makes school less stressful and more fun! 

2. Rocio Tinoco: Rocio graduated from Golder in 2013 and got her ungraduate degree from Connecticiut College where she studied Hispanic Studies and Elementary Education on a full academic scholarship. Currently, she is teaching at a middle school in New London, CT where she works primarily with students who are newcomers to the US. Her job prompted Rocio to want to continue studying, so she enrolled in graduate school at Eastern Connecticiut University where she is working to earn a masters degree in teaching Dual Language Learners. If you didn't think Rocio was busy enough, she also runs the Latinos in Action club at school! Needless to say, she is most deserving of a new laptop. 

Rocio, class of 2013 

3. Edisa Niyifasha: Edisa is a recent graduate from Golder and is headed to University of Michigan in the fall! Edisa is trilingual - speaking Swahili, English and Spanish. She hopes to study biology as a pre-med student. 

4. Osvaldo De Paz: Ozzy is headed to Luther College in Iowa in the fall of 2019 where he hopes to study computer science. In high school, he kept busy with rigorous academic classes and on the soccer team. 

We look forward to keeping in touch with all of our recipients as they continue on the roads they have paved to success!

Veronica, class of 2015

OPRF Local Scholarship Recipient 2019

We loved being back at ours and Terri's alma mater OPRF! On May 1st, we presented our new friend of the fund, Edward, with the Terri Race Techu Fund Scholarship. Edward loves technologyand plans to study game design at Loras College. But first, he will participate in OPRF's CITE program, which is a supported gap year. According to its website, "the program's goal is to create a smooth transition from school to post-school activities, so that a student may successfully participate in his/her community as an adult." It was awesome to chat tech with Edward and we wish him all the best!

One Day - A Film By 2016 Recipient Austin Damisi

We're excited to announce that we've partnered with filmmaker and 2016 TRTF Recipient, Austin Damisi and his new film coming 2019 One Day. Austin has remained close to the fund after earning a laptop as a senior at Golder College Prep by photographing Terri's Race and creating a short video to advertise the Laptop Scholarship each year. He always comes up with innovative ways to advertise the fund and his enthusiasm for and dedication to technology continues to inspire us each year. He applied for a grant through the fund to help make the film a reality and shot it this summer in Chicago, even giving Mariel a minor role as the protagonist's mother! We are so proud of Austin's drive in film making and promoting technology. Don't be suprised when you see his name pop-up in Hollywood!