Lake Education Assistance Program (LEAP) 10 Years Old

Second Graders LEAP into Field Trip, Produce CD on "the Best Field Trip Ever!"

Central Road students highlight LEAP field trip.

The following is excerpted from the letter from Maureen Quiery, second grade teacher at Central Road School in Rolling Meadows:

"Dear Mr. Kolsto:

Thank you for accepting our request for the Lake Education Assistance Program (LEAP). Once again an entire group of second graders had an experience of a lifetime. Our Field Trip to Deer Grove pond was made possible through your program. Enclosed is a Power Point Presentation that highlights some of the events of the field trip. There are also some examples of what the children experienced and samples of student work. What cannot be written on paper is the spark of interest this program inspired in the children.

The funds from the LEAP program will benefit not only the children who went on the field trip but all of the children at Central Road School. We have placed the items purchased through your program on a science cart to be used by the entire school. Our school will put the equipment and nonfiction materials to good use year round. The faces of the second graders as they were the first to use the equipment was priceless. The children felt like "scientists" at the pond. This program turned another group of learners into passionate environmentalists. The bug boxes with the magnifying glasses let each and every child explore individually what they found. In this day and age our world needs for conscientious citizens who care about our natural resources.

During this time education is experiencing budget cuts everywhere. There would not have been a field trip if it were not for your program. Thank you for supplying the necessary funds. The field trip has become something every second grader looks forward to. In fact it is becoming a tradition that all the primary students look forward to, and one the rest of the school continue to talk about as the best field trip. I look forward to working with your program in the future. My team and school have benefited from your program for several years and I have a true appreciation of the incredible education impact it makes in the lives of children."