Banner year
From beginning to end, it was a remarkable year of change, growth and discovery for The Foundation for Andover Schools. Following our mission to enhance, invest and educate, we embarked…
Foundation makes commitment to protect future teacher grants in Andover with a $500,000 endowment
At a community breakfast at the Andover YMCA Farha Center today Foundation President Brice Lowe announced that $500,000 has been set aside in an endowment for future teacher grants. Since…
Catch The Spirit
Welcome to our fan club. We love Andover schools and with you—Andover school parents, teachers and staff, alumni and members of the business community—we’re dedicated to a progressive platform of giving that raises as many private dollars for the district as possible.
Few school districts in our nation enjoy the reputation our schools merit for academic, athletic and extracurricular excellence. Fewer still are known to have the vital connectedness this district has fostered. We hear it in the roar of a full stadium of raving supporters. We see it in the classroom with teachers setting the highest bar possible for contagious learning. We experience it on the sidelines with invested corporate sponsors and parents who are present in every aspect of student life.
We support it all. The Foundation for Andover Schools, formerly Andover Advantage Foundation, was established in 1997 to give Andover students exceptional educational opportunities and ensure a margin of excellence. We’ve never lost that calling and with the groundswell of support we have received on behalf of Andover schools, we can now do more than we ever imagined. Today, our expanded giving platform includes high-value districtwide projects in addition to teacher grants.
It’s clear from all the evidence before us. When you give to The Foundation for Andover Schools, you make a lifetime difference.
The teacher grants are a very important and loved piece for teachers. We are able to add things to our classrooms that our personal or building budgets just don’t allow.
Alicia Moss
5th grade teacher, Meadowlark Elementary
The buildup…was always exciting, regardless of the results. The students passed along the word when the awards caravan entered the school and hoped their teacher was a recipient…The impact of our last grant will continue on, and with proper care last beyond my presence here at this school.
David Fonseca
Andover High School ceramics teacher and recipient of a grant for a production-level pottery kiln in 2016
With teacher classroom and team budgets declining most years, this Foundation has been the only reason many programs and materials have been available for our students. Without this Foundation, many of the project-based learning opportunities would not happen as well. Teacher budgets, when available, are for consumable-type materials such as office supplies, nametags, posters, etc. The Foundation provides materials that students can use year after year.
Kim Hett
Andover eCademy elementary specialist & teacher, Andover Public Schools
Grants have been awarded based on the innovation and commitment of the teacher. It’s not about income or who gives the most money, but about what the teacher wants to use in the classroom to make a difference for students.
Shari Rooks
principal, Cottonwood Elementary
Our Vision
Enhance financial resources. Invest in the educational futures of our children. Support the talents of the district and our community to ensure excellence in education.
Our History
Against a backdrop of concern that Andover Public Schools needed to provide students with educational opportunities above and beyond those provided by the state, the Andover Advantage Foundation emerged. At the center of its mission: ensuring a margin of excellence in educational experience of all Andover students.
Began a Founding Member Drive to establish a permanent endowment that would provide income for academic programs. The Founding Member Drive included 123 members who collectively pledged over $178,000.
Funded first teacher grants ($2,500).
Began payroll deduction program for district employees.
Held first annual giving campaign, raising $18,500.
Received Award of Excellence from the Confidence in Education Task Force.
Endowment surpasses $250,000.
740 families gave to the annual giving campaign with total donations topping $100,000.
Funded our two districtwide projects: supplemental technology to support the new social studies curriculum and Optical Mice for middle- and high-school computer labs.
Surpass $100,000 in grants funded since inception.
Granted more than $20,000 to assist the school district’s purchase of PowerSchool, a web-based student information system.
Established an endowed fund for retiring Superintendent Dr. Pat Terry.
Received Award of Excellence from the Confidence in Education Task Force.
Endowment surpasses $500,000.
Awarded the Golden Key Award for “outstanding contributions to the district that significantly impacted the students and the school district.”
Awarded the Friends of Education award from the Kansas Association of Elementary Schools Principals for “providing excellent support to education in the local community.”
Celebrated 10-year anniversary.
Andover Education Association honored Andover Advantage with an award.
Surpass 400 grants funded since inception.
Districtwide project for all Andover elementary schools provided listening centers for all classrooms.
Funded districtwide project: podcast stations in every building.
Funded districtwide project: “ActivExpressions” & “Actiwands” in every building.
Funded Youth Entrepreneurs of Kansas in both high schools.
Funded 82 grants totaling $80,000.
Celebrated 15-year anniversary. More than $750,000 in grants funded since inception.
Celebrated 20-year anniversary. Surpassed $1 million in grants and districtwide projects funded since inception.