Annual Appeal 2024

Dear Friends,

Thirty years ago, Barbara Melnick, education innovator, envisioned a school where students, whose learning needs were not being met in traditional academic settings, could thrive. This small school and learning center helped students build the skills and strategies they needed to ignite a passion for learning and find their path to success. Over the years, hundreds of students have discovered their potential.  Our graduates have gone on to colleges and universities, create and run their own businesses and to attain high level international careers.

Last winter, we moved to our new location in Freeport which allows us room to grow. Our new location is large enough to serve more students, and is centrally located to extend our reach to more Maine Communities. The building gives our staff and students access to a fitness room, a network of nature trails, and a pickle ball court. We are fortunate to have a team of committed and trained faculty and staff who are united by a curiosity and passion for discovering ways to engage our students

As we look to the future, we are building on our strengths and our history. Experiential learning and the arts have always been an important part of the programming at Aucocisco School. This year we received a transformational gift to enhance our programming with STEAM, an evidence based curriculum that brings ART into the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math Classrooms. This year, students learned about acoustics and geometry through the construction of a rain stick, students built three dimensional topographic maps of the United States to understand the biomes and their influence on regional political and cultural differences, and each year, we offer Backstage, a unique program designed to tell creative stories in a variety of media while building social emotional skills and executive functioning. This type of learning opens up students to a curiosity about the world and builds critical thinking skills. This grant also will allow us to pilot after school enrichment programs.

This is not your ordinary classroom.

We want to make sure more students have access to this high quality program, whether as a day school student, or part time enrichment. Your generous year-end gift will help us meet our goal of $35,000 for this year’s Annual Appeal:

• $100 donation allows us to begin creation of sensory stations for motor breaks.

• $250 donation allows us to allow a student to be scholarshipped to our afternoon enrichment program.

• $500 donation allows us to bring in a guest speaker or artist to enhance our experiential learning model.

• $1,000 donation allows us to enhance our math curriculum through the purchase of an evidence based program.

• $2,500 donation allows us to fully train one staff person in Lindamood-Bell, reading program.

Thank you in advance for your 2024 Annual Fund donation and for supporting Aucocisco students to achieve a bright and hopeful future.

Sincerely,

Teresa Berkowitz

Executive Director