New Warsaw Education Foundation Director Lets Her Passions Guide Her
February 19, 2022 at 12:35 a.m.
New Warsaw Education Foundation Director Lets Her Passions Guide Her
By Jackie Gorski-
“I’m still passionate and always will be about teachers and supporting teachers and schools. And it just looked like a fun way to get involved with the community to support teachers and apply all my areas of expertise,” Serafino said of why she was interested in becoming the executive director of The Warsaw Education Foundation.
Serafino became WEF’s executive director in December after Barb Smolen retired June 4.
Serafino worked as a fourth-grade teacher at Lincoln Elementary School from 2003 to 2007. She got a couple of grants through the foundation when she was teaching, so she said she knew about WEF. Serafino’s mother taught art at Edgewood and received some grants from WEF, too.
Serafino also has some experience outside of education with a job at Zimmer Biomet and at a company in Colorado.
She said she wants to get the word out that WEF is still around. Serafino wants to continue doing the things the foundation has been doing, as well as try new things, and “just continue to support our teachers and students in making Warsaw schools even better than they already are.”
One of WEF’s main fundraisers is the Community Quiz Bowl. Serafino said “because last year we didn’t have it at all and the year before went virtual,” it’s been hard. “So we are really are hoping to run it in person. That’s the goal, that’s the plan. And raise a lot of money. And the money goes to teachers that apply for grants who do fun and unique things in their classrooms,” she said.
The Community Quiz Bowl is scheduled for 7 p.m. March 15 at the Warsaw Community High School Tiger Recreational Activity Center.
Serafino said WEF has had the Community Quiz Bowl for over 20 years.
“It’s a live trivia game,” she said. “You have your table, your team table of up to five people. And we do have a lot of sponsors so teachers can participate. So a lot of businesses in our community have sponsored teams already.”
In the past, the bowl has been done with pen and paper, where teams submit their answers and then they’re scored.
“This year, we’re going to try something new, where we’re using a digital system so they can use an app to answer and that way it’ll move a little bit quicker and be hopefully a little bit more technologically advanced than relying on our pen and paper counting,” she said.
The Bowl consists of 60 questions and as many teams as can get into the TRAC.
The way the fundraising works is, businesses provides WEF with their payments to be part of the quiz bowl. There are three levels for team entry: valedictorian at $2,500, honor roll at $1,000 and team entry at $300 per team. The money goes into WEF’s fund and, when grants are ready to be awarded, the money comes out of that fund.
Teams can register online by Feb. 28 at https://forms.gle/VR6HhVdDpPUWG8j79.
People can pay through PayPal through http://paypal.me/warsawedfoundation or by mailing checks to the Warsaw Education Foundation, P.O. Box 1343, Warsaw IN 46581.
Another fundraiser WEF does is with Kroger. People can set up an account where money comes into a nonprofit.
Other than Kroger accounts and the Quiz Bowl, WEF relies on individual donations.
Examples of past recipients of grants awarded by WEF include a community garden, drama in the classroom to reenact history and plastics recycling.
“Anything that we can see that is going benefit the students and add some creativity to what teachers are already doing and benefit students for year after year, we’re interested in hearing about and supporting,” she said.
How many grants WEF gives out each year is dependant on how much money the foundation raises and how many teachers apply for grants.
“We review them all. The (WEF) Board reviews them. And then they decide if it’s something that’s in line with our values and what we could support,” Serafino said.
There are some programs the WEF has done in the past, which Serafino would like to reignite.
Serafino said she’d like to continue, but is unsure if WEF is going to be able to continue, the Nontraditional Employment for Women Opportunities Workshop. She said she thinks it’s a great thing.
WEF also did Celebration of Excellence, which awarded the top students in classes, which Serafino hopes to reignite.
She said she is open to new ideas. She said WEF is going to be looking at new things to do to support its educators.
“I’m still passionate and always will be about teachers and supporting teachers and schools. And it just looked like a fun way to get involved with the community to support teachers and apply all my areas of expertise,” Serafino said of why she was interested in becoming the executive director of The Warsaw Education Foundation.
Serafino became WEF’s executive director in December after Barb Smolen retired June 4.
Serafino worked as a fourth-grade teacher at Lincoln Elementary School from 2003 to 2007. She got a couple of grants through the foundation when she was teaching, so she said she knew about WEF. Serafino’s mother taught art at Edgewood and received some grants from WEF, too.
Serafino also has some experience outside of education with a job at Zimmer Biomet and at a company in Colorado.
She said she wants to get the word out that WEF is still around. Serafino wants to continue doing the things the foundation has been doing, as well as try new things, and “just continue to support our teachers and students in making Warsaw schools even better than they already are.”
One of WEF’s main fundraisers is the Community Quiz Bowl. Serafino said “because last year we didn’t have it at all and the year before went virtual,” it’s been hard. “So we are really are hoping to run it in person. That’s the goal, that’s the plan. And raise a lot of money. And the money goes to teachers that apply for grants who do fun and unique things in their classrooms,” she said.
The Community Quiz Bowl is scheduled for 7 p.m. March 15 at the Warsaw Community High School Tiger Recreational Activity Center.
Serafino said WEF has had the Community Quiz Bowl for over 20 years.
“It’s a live trivia game,” she said. “You have your table, your team table of up to five people. And we do have a lot of sponsors so teachers can participate. So a lot of businesses in our community have sponsored teams already.”
In the past, the bowl has been done with pen and paper, where teams submit their answers and then they’re scored.
“This year, we’re going to try something new, where we’re using a digital system so they can use an app to answer and that way it’ll move a little bit quicker and be hopefully a little bit more technologically advanced than relying on our pen and paper counting,” she said.
The Bowl consists of 60 questions and as many teams as can get into the TRAC.
The way the fundraising works is, businesses provides WEF with their payments to be part of the quiz bowl. There are three levels for team entry: valedictorian at $2,500, honor roll at $1,000 and team entry at $300 per team. The money goes into WEF’s fund and, when grants are ready to be awarded, the money comes out of that fund.
Teams can register online by Feb. 28 at https://forms.gle/VR6HhVdDpPUWG8j79.
People can pay through PayPal through http://paypal.me/warsawedfoundation or by mailing checks to the Warsaw Education Foundation, P.O. Box 1343, Warsaw IN 46581.
Another fundraiser WEF does is with Kroger. People can set up an account where money comes into a nonprofit.
Other than Kroger accounts and the Quiz Bowl, WEF relies on individual donations.
Examples of past recipients of grants awarded by WEF include a community garden, drama in the classroom to reenact history and plastics recycling.
“Anything that we can see that is going benefit the students and add some creativity to what teachers are already doing and benefit students for year after year, we’re interested in hearing about and supporting,” she said.
How many grants WEF gives out each year is dependant on how much money the foundation raises and how many teachers apply for grants.
“We review them all. The (WEF) Board reviews them. And then they decide if it’s something that’s in line with our values and what we could support,” Serafino said.
There are some programs the WEF has done in the past, which Serafino would like to reignite.
Serafino said she’d like to continue, but is unsure if WEF is going to be able to continue, the Nontraditional Employment for Women Opportunities Workshop. She said she thinks it’s a great thing.
WEF also did Celebration of Excellence, which awarded the top students in classes, which Serafino hopes to reignite.
She said she is open to new ideas. She said WEF is going to be looking at new things to do to support its educators.
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