'WOW' award launches music lessons for needy kids in District 203

When volunteers heard the Naperville Education Foundation was about to hit the milestone of giving away $1 million in grants, the obvious reaction was, "Wow!"

"That's why we decided to do the WOW awards," said Jessica Jozwiak, a Naperville Education Foundation trustee.

WOW Awards were presented Wednesday and Thursday to celebrate distribution of $1 million since 1993 to support Naperville Unit District 203 projects in cultural studies, fine arts, health and physical development, literacy, math and science and general initiatives. Recipients were chosen because their ideas "wowed" judges, including Jozwiak and fellow trustees.

One of the awards, a $340.56 grant to Naperville North High School junior Amber Mraz, will support the creation of the Community School of Music, which will give music lessons to elementary students whose families can't afford private instruction.

Amber is creating the school as her Girl Scout Gold Award project, and she's working with four elementary schools in the district that each have about 25 percent of students receiving free or reduced lunch. The schools - Beebe, Elmwood, Mill and Naper - will help Amber identify band, music and choir students to get six free sessions of weekly music instruction from a high school mentor in the fall.

"It's not only giving them an opportunity to brush up on fundamental skills, but it's also giving them a connection with a high school student," said Amber, who plays viola in the school's orchestra, sings in choirs and is vice president of the Tri-M Music Honor Society.

Amber plans to recruit fellow Tri-M members to teach lessons in voice, violin, viola, cello, bass, flute, clarinet, oboe, French horn, trumpet, trombone and baritone. She sought the money once she realized how much it would cost to buy supplies.

"It will definitely help me because I will now be able to purchase lesson books for those lessons and also the 'handyman stuff' - resin for the bows, slide grease for band instruments," Amber said.

Community School of Music will run for four weeks this spring before the full six-week version launches next fall. Amber said she plans to build interest in the program among fellow students in Tri-M and interview a younger musician to take it over once she graduates in 2016.

Five other projects received money through the WOW Awards, which donated a total of $11,976.95.

• Naperville North science teacher Mark Rowzee received $5,050 to buy basic tooling and supplies for two donated metal milling machines and lathes from Navistar. The supplies will help students get metalworking experience in high school to prepare for engineering jobs or skilled trades, said Ann Spehar, executive director of the Naperville Education Foundation.

"Few high schools have metalworking shop capabilities so this will offer that opportunity for students," Spehar said.

• Ann Reid Early Childhood Center teachers Judy Thalmann and Connie Cremins received $2,444.39 to buy books in languages such as Arabic, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese and Bengali in a project called We Are The World.

"We currently have 32 different languages spoken by our children in the building and we consider that a huge asset," Ann Reid Principal Tarrah Allen said. "We are committed to honoring and including children's first language into our classrooms in whatever way with whatever materials we can."

• David Cleveland at Elmwood Elementary was given $995 for a lap-tracking software system for use by students and a running club.

• Tracy Richards at Madison Junior High got $2,647 to buy books for use in a student mentoring program called Readers ARE Leaders in which strong readers will be matched with struggling ones to provide support.

• Naperville Central High School students Anne Neal and Anthony Miser will receive $500 in a later ceremony to support Redhawk Runway, a wardrobe for students with special needs in adaptive physical education classes to get gently used formal wear for school dances.

Jozwiak said she and fellow Naperville Education Foundation trustees were "wowed" by all winners and especially impressed with the student grant applications for Redhawk Runway and Community School of Music.

"Both are amazing testaments to the kindhearted kids in the Naperville 203 schools," Jozwiak said.

The WOW Awards are part of an estimated $50,000 the Naperville Education Foundation will give this school year.