OCEF supports GATES
Removing cost as a barrier to learning is a goal that schools and community leaders must work together to achieve.
The Oldham County Educational Foundation has been and is an outstanding partner with Oldham County Schools. Without OCEF, there are several programs that simply wouldn’t exist for students in elementary through high school. Just in the last several years, OCEF has provided funding for students to participate in robotics programs at all nine elementary schools and four middle schools. These are extremely expensive programs to maintain, so most of that cost would be shifted to families of the participants without OCEF’s support.
There are students whose intellectual capacity, rate of learning, and potential for creative contributions demand experiences apart from, but connected to, the regular classroom. We are committed to the belief that these gifted students require guidance in discovering, challenging, and realizing their potential. Under this philosophy it becomes the responsibility of the entire staff, in partnership with parents and the school system, to meet the needs of gifted students.
OCEF has additionally been a partner with OCS’s GATES program with the Fit for Life program (high school health and PE), and Oldham County Summer Scholars (7th-11th graders) for several years. Both of these programs occur in the summer and give students the opportunity to stretch themselves with like-minded peers at a time of year that many students shut down their learning.
Having the support of OCEF has allowed the staff of Oldham County Schools GATES program to be creative in how we program for our students. Removing cost as a barrier to learning is a goal that schools and community leaders must work together to achieve. With OCEF’s continued support, there is no limit to what our students will be able to accomplish.