spef in the news – Stillwater Public Education Foundation

SPEF recognized for excellence in pre-K play-based learning

Emily Lewis — Sun, 23 Feb 2025 18:34:56 +0000

Stillwater News Press – February 19, 2025

https://www.stwnewspress.com/news/spef-recognized-for-excellence-in-pre-k-play-based-learning/article_af7b7934-eee7-11ef-902c-67580965f079.html

Click here to view Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence’s 2024-2025 Impact Report that showcases SPEF!

SPEF Celebrates 40 Years

Emily Lewis — Fri, 23 Aug 2024 23:54:07 +0000

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.

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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.

Stillwater Public Education Foundation Appoints Emily Lewis as New Executive Director

ssiemens — Tue, 04 Jun 2024 16:03:00 +0000

Following an extensive search process, the Stillwater Public Education Foundation (SPEF) Board is excited to announce its next Executive Director Emily Lewis. Her appointment began May 9 following Board approval.

Emily joins SPEF with a background in business management, public relations, marketing and event planning. She previously worked for Community Health Systems in Arkansas and Texas in various healthcare administration roles and has served in volunteer roles in her local Parent Teacher Associations and on-campus organizations at OSU. Emily is a Northwest Arkansas native and proud Oklahoma State University alumnae. She graduated from OSU with a bachelor’s of science in Marketing and holds an MBA from John Brown University. Emily lives in Stillwater with her husband, Paul, and three young sons.
In addressing her new role Emily shared, “I’m looking forward to serving the Stillwater community and getting to know the board, Stillwater Public Schools educators and staff and help them reach aspirational goals for our school district. Stillwater is a special place. Our community has such a passion for high quality education and giving back to our school district. Together, we will elevate the work of SPEF and expand our mission and impact within the community. Growing up in a small community in Arkansas, I saw first-hand the impact nonprofits can have on local families. Throughout my whole life, my parents have given me an excellent example of service and dedication to non-profit work. Their service paved a legacy of investing in their community which helped Northwest Arkansas thrive. As my hometown grew and needs evolved and were more abundant, they found ways to connect people and fill the gaps. I hope to follow in their footsteps by increasing the support and awareness needed to fill the funding gaps in our state and provide innovative and creative programs, equipment and opportunities that otherwise would not be available to the students and educators of SPS.”

After three years of exceptional service to SPEF, Executive Director Ashlee Robertson is stepping down from her position following completion of Emily’s training and onboarding on May 31. SPEF extends our deepest appreciation to Ashlee and her dedicated service these past few years. Her advocacy for the teachers and students of Stillwater Public Schools has made a tremendous impact in our school district. During her time leading the board, Ashlee has raised more than $375,000 in funds for Stillwater Public Schools and launched new programs including fundraising initiatives for special education services, teacher appreciation and an upcoming membership program.

Stillwater Public Education Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization committed to building strong community connections and support for Stillwater Public Schools. Since its inception in 1984, SPEF has given more than $1.8 Million to Stillwater Public Schools to fund special initiatives and enhance learning opportunities to all SPS students.

New Flagship Campaign: Onward Arts

ssiemens — Fri, 01 Oct 2021 21:18:00 +0000

On Thursday, September 30, we had our first in-person fundraising event since the beginning of the pandemic and it was a huge success! We launched a new flagship fundraising campaign for the arts called “Onward Arts” and announced the establishment of the Jenifer Bartley Technology Fund in recognition of Jenifer’s tenure as the Executive Director SPEF. Attendees helped us raise more than $55,000 for Stillwater Public Schools, including $23,100 for the Onward Arts fundraising kick off and $20,500 for the Jenifer Bartley Technology Fund.

Onward Arts is our new campaign and it is our goal to increase opportunities for Stillwater Public School students to engage with the arts. In discussions with Dr. Moore and other administrators, they identified the arts as an area they would like to enrich in our district. This school year, that means sending our high school students to the McKnight Center to see STOMP and assisting the new after-school drama program at our elementary schools. This 9-week after-school program will be for 3rd-5th grade students and will be offered at each of the elementary sites. SPEF will provide scholarships for students to attend and funding for start-up expenses, such as props, scripts and transportation. This campaign is going to be a gamechanger for providing access to arts resources and programming for Stillwater Public Schools.

Also as part of the celebration, we recognized our 2020-21 teacher grant recipients for their outstanding work and their innovative grant awards that provided new resources benefit their students and schools.

Thank you to all that attended and who continue to support SPEF through their generous donations.

SPEF’s Powerful Peers Nominations

ssiemens — Thu, 05 Aug 2021 21:24:00 +0000

Nominations for SPEF’s Powerful Peers teacher recognition awards are now open! They are due by 5:00pm on Friday, August 27! See flier for details on how to nominate one of your inspiring Stillwater Public Schools education co-workers! Five recipients will be selected and announced in September. Each of the five winners will receive $100 from SPEF!

2021-Powerful-Peers-Flyer Download