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Archive for the ‘Barrington 220 Foundation’ Category

BALThe Barrington Area Library’s Summer Reading Program is in full swing!

Children, teens, and adults can sign up and start logging their reading hours and other fun activities to earn badges, free books, and a chance at grand prizes. One of the sponsors for this year’s program is the Barrington 220 Educational Foundation. Click here to sign up for the program!

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Jaylyn Chavarria and Sophia Hutchison, both seniors at Barrington High School, pose after receiving investment funds in 2019 for their start-up company, Safe Pack. The young women are now using their new company to send COVID-19 care packages to troops overseas.

After a start-up company created by a group of Barrington High School students was put on hold due to the coronavirus epidemic, the teens behind the project decided to get creative and find a way to give back.

The product they produce, the Safe Pack, functions mainly as a fanny pack, with extra safety features intended to prevent phone loss and theft, especially at large gatherings like concerts and sporting events. But since many of those events have been canceled due to ongoing social distancing guidelines, the students realized their “prime months” to sell the product might be lost for the year.

Instead of halting business operations, though, seniors Jaylyn Chavarria and Sophia Hutchison decided to use their new company to send care packages to military personnel stationed overseas.

“Instead of pressing pause on this, we wanted to continue building our business and giving back to others … especially those who sacrifice their lives every single day to protect us and our families back home,” Chavarria said.

Read more here.

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These days, it’s more than just shelves of books that await students at Carpentersville’s Sunny Hill Elementary School library.

Recently, the $500,000 project to transform the space from a “book warehouse” into a 21st century learning space was completed. Students and school officials say they are thrilled with the results.

“It’s an incredible reality,” Principal Cynthia Armendariz-Maxwell said. “The possibilities that students can now tap into thanks to this learning space … a new door has been opened to our students and it will transform lives.”

The Barrington 220 Educational Foundation contributed $190,000 toward the total amount for the library’s remodel.

Read more here.

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Note: This is the second article we’ve posted on the August 15 District 220 meeting due in no small part to the caption in the photo below:

A group of more than 20 residents lobbied the Barrington School District 220 board at the Aug. 15, 2019 meeting, asking board members to include a fine arts center in the $147 million referendum the board will place on the March 17, 2020 election ballot.

The Barrington School District 220 board voted to make another go at getting money for what officials say are needed infrastructure, safety and other school building improvements, this time asking taxpayers to green light a $147 million referendum.

The measure will be placed on the March 17, 2020 primary ballot, after school board members voted at the Aug. 15 meeting to approve that move.

Board members decided to ask the community for $38 million less than the $185 million on the referendum voters rejected in the April 2 election. They reached a consensus on the referendum – after discussing which school improvements to include and which to postpone until later – following four meetings since June 8, including two last week. There was one primary goal.

“We have to be sure the community as a whole is with us,” said board President Penny Kazmier “We can’t go to the voters without being prepared. We have to have a good plan. We have to decide ‘where do we draw the line?’”

Read the full Barrington Courier-Review story here.  As you’ll read, the board did not approve requesting funding to cover a new fine arts center.

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Many suburban school districts are fortunate to work with private foundations that help raise money for special projects and coordinate diverse volunteer programs. An effort under way in Barrington Area Unit District 220 calls attention to these efforts and demonstrates how creative and supportive communities can be in helping to meet the needs of their students.

The nonprofit Barrington 220 Foundation has announced it will provide a donation to support an outdoor science laboratory where students can work first-hand with scientific principles on a 67-acre conservation area across from Barrington High School. Our Robert Susnjara reported this week that the students will learn to monitor the health of streams, research soil composition and prairie habitat and study renewable resources.

Read the full Daily Herald editorial here.

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A private foundation supporting Barrington Area Unit District 220 has agreed to help fund a proposed outdoor education initiative and expansion of an entrepreneurship program into the middle schools.

Click on image to enlarge

Mary Dale, executive director of the Barrington 220 Foundation, said the nonprofit will provide a to-be-determined donation for the district’s proposed outdoor science laboratory off Hart Road. The lab would be on part of an undeveloped 67 acres the district owns, and officials say it could cost up to $750,000 to build.

Dale said the foundation also will donate $27,000 to District 220 for creation of the business incubator for eighth-graders at the two middle schools, allowing those students to have a “bridge” between similar programs in fifth grade and high school.

She said the two major projects were recommended for the funding after a vetting process by a committee that included residents and foundation officials. Foundation board trustees gave the final approval, with the selections revealed at a recent soiree at Barrington’s White House.

Read more here.

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