(1/3/18)  Friends of CRLS is thrilled to be awarding a total of $13,000 to six students traveling to Ecuador & the Galapagos Islands over February school vacation.  Students will partake in service learning by helping schoolchildren in an Ecuadorian community and journey into the wildlife wonders of the Galapagos on this school-authorized group trip led by CRLS teachers Annan Lopata and Laura Chiricosta.

Thanks to our kind 2017 donors and generous 10th Year Birthday Bash sponsors, Friends of CRLS is able to double the financial support to student travelers this year, enabling these six talented and motivated students, who would otherwise not be financially able to afford these trips, to fully participate in these once-in-a-lifetime experiences.  One awardee wrote in his application essay that the trip “will give me an invaluable perspective of life and allow me to go farther than I ever have in my 18 years in Cambridge.”

Awardees meet application, academic, and financial requirements to qualify for Student Travel Fellowships and earn and raise money as individuals and as members of their trip groups to cover their remaining expenses.  Fellows will keep written and photographic journals and, along with their travel cohort, collectively share their reflections with the CRLS community when they return to Cambridge.  We look forward to hearing from them!

To learn more about Student Travel Fellowships and Friends of CRLS’s other programs, volunteer, involve your business, sponsor our upcoming bash, or establish a scholarship, please visit focrls.org, email info@focrls.org, or call 857-235-9290.

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Awardees Announced, Projects Underway

Friends of CRLS is delighted to congratulate the 2017/18 school year awardees of our Faculty Innovation Grants!  Thanks to numerous generous donors, FOCRLS was able to award a total of $12,415 (a $4,195 increase over last year).  These grantees bring the grand total of teachers and staff members receiving Faculty Innovation Grantees to 191 since 2007.  Please visit focrls.org to support innovation at CRLS.

• Elizabeth Hansel, Physics Teacher — “Team America Rocket Challenge” ($1,000) to design and build a rocket that qualifies the CRLS team to fly their creation in the world’s largest student rocket competition.
• Jeff Gaglione, Dean of Curriculum & Program, Mathematics — “CRLS Mathematics Department Summer Math Preview Program” ($1,000) to help students succeed in AP and Honors classes with advance preparation through a curriculum of higher level math and the development of studentship skills.
• Drew Pierce, Math Teacher at HSEP, and Sam Matson, History Teacher at HSEP — “Mountain Classroom Trip for the Students of HSEP” ($1,000) for students to learn environmental science and ecology as well as leadership and teambuilding by spending three days exploring the White Mountains.
• Brenda Divelbliss and Mila Thigpen, Dance Teachers — “Residency with Brother(hood) Dance!” ($500) to expand students’ exposure to contemporary dance beyond the greater Cambridge/Boston area and increase their creative potential by hosting and learning from a New York based dance duo. (In collaboration with the CRLS Arts Committee and the CRLS Department of Visual & Performing Arts.)​
• Kendall Boninti and Emily Houson, Library Media Specialists — “Collaborative Learning Spaces at CRLS Pearl K. Wise Library” ($1,000) to empower student choice and foster a participatory culture by establishing two technology-rich collaborative learning spaces in the school library.
• Allison Deban, Vanessa Black, and Caitlin Plummer — “Accessing Cambridge through Community-Based Instruction” ($500) to provide students on the autism spectrum with opportunities for community-based instruction, building a foundation for functional life skills that will carry into adulthood.
• Marya Wegman, English Teacher — “We Need Diverse Books” ($865) to increase the classroom library to reflect a broader variety of cultures, races, religions, genders, and identities.
• Vera Duarte, Teacher-in-Charge, ELL Department — “Community-Building Opportunities for CRLS Immigrant Students” ($600) to provide half-price prom tickets to immigrant students so that money is not a barrier for them to fully immerse themselves in the CRLS community.
• Marlin Kann, Computer Science and History Teacher — “I am CS @ CRLS” ($1,000) to boost the interest of more students in computer science with a STEM Classroom Invention Literacy Pack of Makey Makeys and “I am CS @ CRLS” T-shirts for the Computer Science Fair and classroom.
• Lynette Belle, Club Advisor, Falcon Friends — “Falcon Friends Expansion” ($1,000) to provide support and inclusion for students with disabilities, promote awareness, and provide training about disabilities.
• Amy Dolan, Math Teacher — “T1 84 Graphing (in color) Calculators for Easier Access to Math” ($1,000) to inspire more students to enjoy Algebra 2 and discover the benefits math can bring them by increasing the classroom supply of graphing calculators.
• Kathleen FitzGerald, Teacher, Civics Teacher and Internship & Project Coordinator — “Storied Landscapes: An Exploration and Sharing of Cultural and Natural Resources Across Urban and Rural Youth Communities” ($1,000) to provide students with an opportunity to experience a region and a way of life vastly different from their own by collaborating with students in Lubec, Maine.
• Laura Bor​relli, Biology Teacher and Advisor of the Student Bike Advocates — “Bike Advocacy Club Helmets” ($950)​ to provide 30 bike helmets that Student Bike Advocates can customize for bike safety promotion events to increase enthusiasm for helmet wearing.
• William McDonald and Barbara Dorritie, Biology Teachers — “Antibiotic Resistance Lab” ($1,000) to give students the opportunity to witness evolution in real time over the course of two weeks using current techniques used by lab researchers.

For a full list of our Faculty Innovation Grantees, please click here.