Stillwater Public Education Foundation celebrates 40 years of transformative impact on Stillwater education
Celebration of Education fundraising dinner to honor 40 years of enhancing educational opportunities at Stillwater Public Schools.
STILLWATER, OK (August 23, 2024) – As the school year kicks off, Stillwater’s largest educational fundraising organization, the Stillwater Public Education Foundation (SPEF), is commemorating its 40 years of impact by hosting a fundraising dinner and community celebration of educators.
The annual Celebration of Education event takes on a special meaning this year as SPEF celebrates 40 years of providing transformational funding to advance education in Stillwater Public Schools.
The event will be held on Sept. 24 and will feature dinner, a live and silent auction, presentations by SPEF grant honorees, and special remarks from SPEF stakeholders. SPEF’s first executive director, Marcia Karns, will serve as keynote speaker at the dinner.
“It’s encouraging to see how much we have accomplished since 1984,” said Karns. “SPEF has given more than $1.8 million to Stillwater educators since the organization began. I’m looking forward to celebrating with educators and challenging the community to further the organization’s impact in the coming years.”
This event aims to champion the foundation’s work over the years and highlight the corporate partners throughout Stillwater and the surrounding community who make it possible.
“SPEF has a long history of filling the gaps when assistance is needed and offering support for innovative ideas in our district. From exciting opportunities like new drones to enhance our aviation program at the high school to championing play-based learning in the PreK classrooms, which provides vital learning opportunities to our youngest Pioneers, each of us at SPEF is honored to play a small part along with our incredibly generous community members and corporate sponsors that make these opportunities possible. Working with SPEF is such a pleasure because we get to enhance both the learning and the joy of SPS students thanks to the creativity and commitment of the district’s amazing educators,” said SPEF Board of Trustees President Robin Fuxa.
Doors open at 6 p.m. at Sparrow Beginnings, 5317 S. Hartford Street in Stillwater. Tickets can be purchased at spef.stillwaterschool.com.
Celebration of Education is made possible through the continued, generous support of SPEF’s Corporate Partners: Gold level – Cockrell Eyecare Center, Eskimo Joe’s, OnCue, Stillwater Medical Center, Tommy’s Express Car Wash, and Wilson Auto Family; Silver-level – 505 Architects, BancFirst, BlueSky Bank, CStar Property Management, Exchange Bank, Grand River Dam Authority, Great Plains Bank, InterWorks, Inc., Kicker , Lambert Construction, Northern Oklahoma College, Oklahoma Community Credit Union, Oklahoma State University, OSU – College of Education & Human Sciences, Rosenstein, Fist & Ringold, Simmons Bank, Stillwater News Press, Tinker Federal Credit Union, and Willowbrook Construction Services.
—
Stillwater Public Education Foundation is a non-profit seeking to build strong community connections and support for Stillwater Public Schools. In the past 40 years, SPEF has awarded over $1.8 million to enhance educational opportunities for SPS students.
