The Andover Coalition for Education, the private group that played a key role in creating a new foreign language lab at Andover High and engineering labs at all three of Andover's middle schools, is taking on a new fund-raising challenge.
President Tina Girdwood said ACE's primary focus next year will be "the ACE 500 Challenge" - an effort to nearly double the number of people who have given money to the ACE effort so far.
More than 275 donors to date have supported ACE projects but ACE is hoping to encourage benefactors to pledge larger amounts that ACE will collect only if it can reach the 500-donor mark this year, said Girdwood.
"We're going to try to put together a number of donors who will pledge to put together a 'Rewards Pool' [ACE will earn] if we reach 500 donors," said Girdwood. "We hope to have a pool of money at the end of the road."
The effort to increase the number of donors also is hoped to raise the profile of the group.
ACE is preparing to celebrate its fifth anniversary on Nov. 5 at a gala party, during which it will celebrate its successes, such as the language lab, engineering program at the elementary and middle schools, and the addition of the school system's grants coordinator. Grants Coordinator Lisa Glickstein has brought to Andover coffers state and federal grants totaling over $1.2 million since 2006, said an ACE release. The grants coorinator position was fully funded by ACE for its first two years.
On May 24, ACE held its fourth annual meeting at Memorial Hall Library and elected to its Board of Directors Sarah Emerson, Tom Lazay, Phalguni Shah and Debbie Silberstein. Tribute was also paid to board members Cynthia Egan and Tony James, both founders of ACE who will move to its Advisory Board.
Three other Advisory Board members were elected by the board at its regular meeting in May. They are Dara Casey, Lucy Vaill and Ned Williams.
President Tina Girdwood, Vice President Eileen Woods, Clerk Jeanne Topham and Treasurer Karen Marotta were elected for two-year terms.
The treasurer reported that ACE has given more than $285,000 in support of Andover schools since its launch in 2005. ACE says it "partners with the Andover Public Schools to support innovative systemwide initiatives that will inspire our students to succeed in facing today's global challenges." For more information, visit aceandover.org.
