At a grant award recognition program and reception Sept. 23 at Northampton Area High School, 1619 Laubach Ave., Northampton Area Konkrete Kids Educational Foundation awarded 18 education grants totaling $46,671 for the 2019-20 school year.

The grants represent funding for a wide variety of grant requests submitted to the foundation by Northampton Area School District staff members for projects that extend learning opportunities and co-curricular experiences for the benefit of the entire K-12 school community. With the awarding of these grants, the foundation has given more than $212,281 to the district since its inception in 2009.

At the recognition program, Bill Conner, foundation president, welcomed the guests, who included the grant recipients, NASD Board of Education members, building and school district administrators and members of the foundation board.

He explained the foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, tax-exempt community organization dedicated to raising funds that “support and finance innovative programs designed to enhance the quality of education for Northampton Area School District students.”

Over the past 10 years, funding for the education grants was made possible by the support of local businesses, community members and individuals for the foundation’s various fundraising events, such as the annual golf tournament, oldies dances, memorial paver sales and the Distinguished Alumni Wall of Honor celebration.

Superintendent of Schools Joe Kovalchik also congratulated the grant recipients. Thanking the foundation for being a valued community partner over the past several years, he explained that “we couldn’t do many of these projects” without the support of this organization.

Foundation board members Beth Schisler and Tim Tepes introduced each of the grant recipients and provided a brief description of each project.

The recipients included:

District level

• Lydia Hanner, Michelle Schoeneberger - Project Lead the Way

Northampton Area High School

• Kristin Chavez, Catherine Salazar - Latin Dance Experience

• Tara Gray - Large Format Printer

• Rebecca Hoernle - Science Olympiad

• April Krempasky, Catherine Salazar, Lauren Ezzell - UN Trip

• Sally Madden - Portable Green Screen Studio

• Michael Miller - What Makes Maddy Run?

• James Sansone - Digital Mixing Console

Northampton Area Middle School

• Amie Marks - PA Junior Academy of Science

Elementary

• Jen Erie - ImagiNation

• Amanda Trombly - Legacy Tile Mural

• Jennifer Fulfaro - Mad Science

• Lisa Jones, Kathy Nota - ImagiNation

• Denise Straub - Dinosaur Dig Show

• Laura Meyers - Rock, Minerals & Fossils

• Curt Dimmick - Rachel’s Challenge

• Krista Maxwell, Krystyna Dalrymple - Science Tellers