Norwin foundation seeks money for scholarships, programs

A foundation that has provided more than $560,000 in scholarships to Norwin students since 2007 wants to raise $7,500 during the school district’s homecoming festivities next week.

The Norwin School District Community Foundation will conduct its annual Days of Giving from 8 a.m. Wednesday through Oct. 4, with the goal of raising the money for five purposes, said Jack Boylan, foundation president and a former Norwin superintendent.

“We are concerned that the scholarship amounts may be reduced this coming year due to the unstable stock market that will impact the growth of these scholarship investment funds,” Boylan said.

This past spring, the nonprofit foundation distributed more than $110,000 for the 25 scholarships it manages, Boylan said.

Norwin is fortunate to have a long-standing partnership with the foundation, which supports educational opportunities in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Math), scholarships, athletics, the arts, and more, Superintendent Jeff Taylor said.

The foundation wants to increase its smallest scholarship endowment funds, which ranges from $350 to $500, so students who earn these scholarships will have greater financial support as they begin their education after high school education. The foundation noted that amount of the money may only cover the cost of several textbooks.

It also wants to increase the Norwin Alumni and Friends Association Scholarship and add money to any scholarship facilitated by the foundation.

A listing of eligible scholarships is the foundation on its website at nsdcf.org/programs/scholarships.

Growing STEM, other programs

The foundation wants to raise more money for Norwin’s K-12 STEM programs (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) to provide students and teachers with the specialized STEM curricular resources needed to support STEM instruction. That initiative got a boost this year from Education Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) contributions of $10,000 each from First National Bank and Mine Safety Worldwide, Boylan said.

It also seeks money for Educator Innovation Grants, which is a competitive program to provide start-up funds for teachers to provide innovative instruction to enrich and enhance student learning. Since 2012, the foundation has provided more than $17,000 in those competitive grants, including almost $2,000 to three teachers last year.

The CPR and Stop the Bleed curricula started with Educator Innovation Grants as have numerous initiatives to create hands-on lessons to enhance student learning, the foundation said.

Because of covid-19, the foundation canceled its Veteran’s Day T-shirt sale this fall, Boylan said, Money from the sale was used to fund programs and activities. A portion of the proceeds was donated to a community program that benefits area veterans.

The Knight of Distinguished Alumni was postponed from May until October, then again postponed until next May, Boylan said. Those businesses and individuals who had purchased program ads for the banquet have agreed to maintain their ads for the rescheduled 2021 banquet.

How to donate

Donors can target their donation to those priorities or allow the foundation to decide. For more information about the foundation, visit the website at nsdcf.org. and follow the instructions to make a tax-deductible gift during the Days of Giving.

To donate via check, mail the donation to the foundation at 281 McMahon Dr., North Huntingdon, Pa. 156642. To support a specific fund, write the name of that fund on the memo line of the check.