Crayons to Calculators is a $250,000 program, generously sponsored by Western Disposal Services and other community partners, that provides backpacks and grade-level appropriate school supplies to over 11,000 low-income students in the Boulder Valley School District and St. Vrain Valley School District.

Traditionally, the program operates as a community-wide school supply drive, with community members collecting school supplies or volunteering to assemble backpacks.

While we love that element of the program, health and safety are our top priorities, so we’re purchasing pre-packaged supply kits and backpacks that will be distributed to students directly through their school.

Allison Billings, Executive Director of Impact on Education

How to help

The Crayons to Calculators Community Challenge encourages local organizations and individuals to build fundraising teams and raise $25,000 to support local families. With the modified program, financial contributions are critically important this year. We meet families every year who tell us how much this program helps them. While it’s hard to predict how the next school year will unfold, we know one thing will remain the same: our students are counting on us.

Google has offered to match any gifts made to Crayons to Calculators through July 30, up to $10,000, a generous challenge gift that will help reach the $25,000 goal.

Individuals and organizations are invited to lead fundraising teams in the Crayons to Calculators Community Challenge, inviting their friends, colleagues, family and community members to support local students.

Questions about the community challenge?

Anyone interested in joining the challenge or making a donation can register online or email darcy@impactoneducation.org for more information.

Crayons to Calculators is a multi-district school supply distribution managed through a collaborative partnership with the St. Vrain Valley Schools Education Foundation.

From the very start of the pandemic, we knew disrupted learning would create widespread inequities and learning gaps. We made sure to include supplemental instruction in the launch of our Critical Needs Fund to make sure we could fund opportunities for K-12 students to access additional instruction to catch up on learning they might miss.

This spring, we funded over 10,000 hours of supplemental instruction, providing opportunities for students to receive academic support and additional instruction after school and on Mondays as well as access to ACT/SAT preparatory courses. 

This summer, we are turning our attention to supporting the elementary and the middle school students whose skill levels in core classes are below grade level as well as high school students who need to recover credits they did not pass or did not complete. Doing the learning now will lead to higher growth and achievement in the fall.

Summer learning opportunities

While schools are closed for the summer, many BVSD students are still engaged in learning. The Boulder Valley School District kicked off its Summer Learning program this week for rising 1st graders through 9th grade students. 

With over 1,200 students enrolled, 160 of them, about 15%, are able to attend only because Impact on Education funded before and after child care. This allows all students, regardless of family income, the opportunity to receive safe, supplemental instruction, technology, and curriculum on their grade level.

In addition to summer learning, nearly 1,800 students are making up high school credits this summer, at no cost to them. Any student needing to retake a failed or incomplete course may sign up to take credit recovery courses this summer. While fees to retake high school classes typically cost between $50-$300, Impact on Education is funding all credit recovery courses for BVSD high school students this year with dollars from our Critical Needs Fund. 

Looking ahead

The academic support being offered this summer is designed to help ensure students start the 2021-22 school year on grade level. Work is underway to ensure we meet student needs when school resumes in August and throughout the school year, too. Keep an eye out for our blog or sign up for our e-newsletter for more updates about the ways we are supporting local students.

“As students, we have to start asking the really important question of who’s making the decisions for us.”

Marta Loachamin

What I Know Now: Marta Loachamin, Boulder County Commissioner

Marta Loachamin was elected to the Board of County Commissioners in 2020 and is the first Latina to hold the office in Boulder County. Marta is a long-time Longmont resident who has worked for social, economic, and housing justice by building opportunities for families throughout Boulder County and the Front Range.

Audrey and Bella from our Student Advisory Board joined Marta for a virtual interview in which you’ll learn:

• How her experiences as a student and former educator helped her find both confidence and success. 
• How she connects the dots between student experiences in our community and local government.
• Why she influences and campaigns for diversity and advises our students to do the same.

About Marta Loachamin

Marta was elected to the Board of County Commissioners in 2020, with a term continuing through January 2025, representing District 2. More about Marta >>

About the Student Advisory Board

Our Student Advisory Board (SAB) is a collaborative leadership experience for Boulder Valley School District high school students. The SAB brings together students enrolled in Boulder Valley’s 13 high schools to share their perspectives in order to advise Impact on Education’s initiatives and guide our investments. More about the SAB >>

“Sometimes, when something truly surprising happens, it feels like it lasts a long time, even if it really doesn’t.”

Marcel the Shell: The Most Surprised I’ve Ever Been

BVSD Superintendent’s Honor Roll

Boulder Valley School District recently gathered district leaders and representatives from different teams throughout the district to share their stories about the biggest pandemic initiatives during a special Superintendent’s Honor Roll. Superintendent Dr. Rob Anderson recognized Impact on Education for our service to the BVSD community during the pandemic.

Our job is to make sure student needs are met. Whether those needs are inside or outside of the classroom, we work with BVSD to identify student needs and then turn to our community to find the resources to help. This year, we worked tirelessly to ensure students had food, internet, and school supplies, and now we’re focused on helping students access supplemental learning opportunities.

IOE awarded for outstanding dedication

Fast forward to 1:33:57 in the video below to see our Executive Director, Allison Billings, take the stage and accept our award “for outstanding service to the students, staff and community in the Boulder Valley School District.”

Read more about how we met critical needs during the pandemic.

We’re excited to share that we have awarded up to $24,000 in scholarships to three graduating high school seniors. Applications were reviewed by a group of trained community volunteers, and student winners were selected based upon their academic achievement, financial need, and other eligibility requirements.

“From the number of applications we received for both scholarships to the strength and accomplishments of the applicants, this year highlights both students’ incredible drive to pursue their post-secondary education and goals as well as the deep need for post-secondary resources.”

Jen Biegen, IOE Program Coordinator

Our new Earl & Barbara Bolton Scholarship, is awarded from a $500,000 endowment left to Impact on Education by its namesake. The couple grew up in Boulder County, attended Boulder Valley public schools, and were well known in the community for their love of aviation, history, education, and travel. The scholarship is intended for students planning to study engineering, forestry, nursing, or medicine in the state of Colorado.

Earl & Barbara Bolton Scholarship

The $5,000 Earl & Barbara Bolton Scholarship was awarded to Shannon Blanco, a senior at Monarch High School. Shannon plans to pursue biomedical engineering & the Business Engineering Tech Program at CU-Boulder in the fall. This scholarship award is renewable for up to four years, with the potential to fund $20,000 of Shannon’s college expenses.

“On my service trips and volunteering in my community, I have seen the disparity of medical resources for under-served populations [which has] inspired me to look deeper into people’s access to medical equipment and aid. My overall goal is to transform the accuracy and efficiency of medical equipment to provide more accessible medical aid to those in need, specifically in struggling socio-economic communities and developing countries.”

Shannon Blanco, Senior at Monarch High School

Dennie & Donna Wise Scholarship

One of Impact on Education’s longtime scholarships, the Dennie and Donna Wise Scholarship, was endowed by a former board member to support up to two students a year planning to pursue a vocational, technical, or community college education. 

A $1,000 scholarship was awarded to Maria Garcia Diaz, a senior at Fairview High School and to Rodrigo Marquez, a senior at Boulder High School. Maria plans to pursue child psychology at Front Range Community College in the fall, and Rodrigo plans to pursue law enforcement also at Front Range Community College. This scholarship award is renewable for up to two years, funding a total of $2,000 of each recipient’s college tuition. 

“My goals are to make my parents proud as well as myself…I want to become a child psychologist. I have the opportunity to work in a field where I’m able to not only help others but make other people feel heard. I’m able to use my own life experiences to better understand others and help them know that they’re not alone.”

Maria Garcia Diaz, Senior at Fairview High School

“Since I was a child, my dream has been to become a police officer and help my community, especially the Latino community, my family, and friends. I want to help make changes that can help solve problems, and my goals have been influenced by my parents.”

Rodrigo Marquez, Senior at Boulder High School

We offer these scholarships to support Boulder Valley students in financial need who wish to pursue higher education. We’re able to provide this type of important financial support thanks to generous bequests left to the organization from local community members. If you’d like to discuss opportunities for planned giving, including bequests, gifts from a retirement account, charitable trust, or real estate, please contact darcy@impactoneducation.org.

Between playing basketball and cooking, Roane Edwards also spent time on the Student Advisory Board during his last two years as a student at Fairview High School.

The 18-year-old Boulderite got involved in the Student Advisory Board through his mom, who worked as an educator and suggested he apply. He said the experience was an eye-opener, specifically a summit the SAB attended in his first year.

“We were in these breakout groups where we were discussing ways to improve certain curricula and improving school life, both academically and socially. And that is something I feel pretty passionate about,” Roane said. “It was pretty cool to be in a room with people that could actually make changes … and be able to share my thoughts with them.”

Roane said he was proud that the Student Advisory Board became more diverse over the span from his first to his second year.

“That first year it was mostly white kids as it tends to be from Boulder, and we talked a lot about getting more people from different ethnicities and demographics involved in Student Council and Student Advisory Board,” he said. “And the next year — this year — I noticed that there were more kids from all walks of life in the group.”

“It was pretty cool to be in a room with people that could actually make changes in that field and be able to share my thoughts with them.”

Roane Edwards, Senior at Fairview High School

Roane was excited to come back to the Board for his senior year and celebrate all the traditional high school senior milestones, but those plans were interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Like many people, his understanding of what 2020 would look like evolved as the year went on.

“I really enjoyed the first two months because my brother came back from college, and it was just me and him hanging out at the house, having a good time. Then, as it became more apparent how long this was going to last, and how many things I would eventually miss out on and it took more and more of a hold on my mental health, it was rough,” he said.

All in all, Roane only attended the last two months of his senior year in-person. He found bright spots to be grateful for, however.

“I got to play my last season of basketball. Even though it was half as long and we had to wear masks during games and practice, I was just happy we got to play,” he said. “We’re going to have a prom at the Denver Aquarium, so that will be nice. I’m hoping I’m not going to be dancing with a girl with our masks on.”

Roane likes to cook when he’s not playing basketball, and he also has an interest in environmentalism. After graduation, he plans to go to San Diego State University. 

“I’m not exactly sure what I’ll study out there but probably either marine biology or sports management. Those are two very different things,” he said with a laugh. “Other than that, I plan to travel, save as much money as I can, and learn what I can and see where that takes me.”

Maya Clements joined the Student Advisory Board as a high school senior, which meant that despite many hours of meetings, they have never met their peers on the SAB or the Impact on Education staff in person.

The 17-year-old is politically active, attending protests and advocating for causes on social media.

“My motivation for getting into a lot of political things is that I am an intersection of a lot of different identities. My household is multicultural. My mom is from Bolivia and grew up there, and my dad is Japanese and white, and then I’m also queer,” Maya said. “So I can represent a lot of different communities.”

Although Maya’s year on the Student Advisory Board was different from others’, they brought value to the group by acting as a liaison to the Equity Council.

“I feel that one of the capacities I have been helpful in is as the only person who overlaps between the Student Advisory Board and the BVSD Equity Council.”

Maya Clements, Senior at Boulder High

“My first year was definitely a little weird with the pandemic going on. But I feel that one of the capacities I have been helpful in is as the only person who overlaps between the SAB and the Equity Council so it helps both sides and I can connect those two,” Maya said. 

Maya joined the Board in order to advocate for more sensitivity training among the school district staff and to increase opportunities for district employees from more diverse backgrounds.

Maya said that their involvement with the Student Advisory Board helped them with interpersonal skills, like interviewing. As part of their role on the board, Maya was able to interview fellow person of color Bhavna Chhabra, the tech site director for the Boulder Google campus.

“Being on the board really helped me with knowing how to interview someone. I had never done that before, and I really enjoyed that project,” they said.

In their free time, Maya likes to paint, do artistic sewing projects, and practice martial arts. 

“I do kickboxing but not in a formal capacity yet because I’m still getting used to the idea of going back to a space with other people,” they said. “I’m trying to get back into embroidery projects because I used to do it as a kid, and I always have a little project going with stuff sketched out.”

After graduation, Maya plans to attend either Lewis & Clark College in Oregon or Smith College in Massachusetts.

“I’m still kind of exploring all my paths. Lately, I’m more interested in the idea of becoming either a human rights lawyer or an immigration lawyer because it seems like a service that a lot of people need right now.”

For Boulder High senior Audrey Bahintchie, serving on the Student Advisory Board for BVSD afforded her the opportunity to represent students of color and immigrants and serve her community.

Audrey was born in the Ivory Coast, in West Africa, and speaks French as her first language with English as her second. She is also working on mastering sign language. She said that as an only child, she has a myriad of hobbies to fill her time but spends a lot of her time doing community service.

Besides the Student Advisory Board, Audrey is also in the Black Student Alliance, the Youth Opportunity Board, Rotary Club, and Zonta International, a service organization focused on the rights of women worldwide.

“A lot of my extracurricular activities have an aspect of community service and are related to my core values: diversity and inclusivity,” she said. “I really strive for trying to make a change. After high school, I plan to go to college to get a degree in psychology and medicine. I want to become a family physician.”

 “I really strive for trying to make a change. After high school, I plan to go to college to get a degree in psychology and medicine.”

Audrey Bahintchie, Senior at Boulder High School

The future Dr. Bahintchie said her experience on the Student Advisory Board was valuable and remembered advising the BVSD School Board that students need counseling that goes beyond academics.

“Once, we talked about how we feel about reaching out to our counselors in our school and I said that I don’t feel comfortable reaching out to them because we’ve been taught to look at them as academic counselors and not someone you go to with emotional baggage or if you’re feeling some type of way,” she said.

Audrey added that emotional and therapeutic counseling is needed all the time for students and not just after a national tragedy such as the fatal King Soopers shooting in Boulder.

“Although we came together after that and the counselors were there to help us, I asked that the school district acknowledge that we have counselors to help us with our emotions around these big events like the shooting, but that service isn’t available to us as regularly as it should be,” she said.

Audrey said her time on the Student Advisory Board during the COVID-19 pandemic has shown her how considerate leaders and administrators must be of all perspectives and situations before making a decision.

“It’s really hard to try to see how inclusive you can be and take all the different types of situations and scenarios under consideration and how changing one thing could affect everyone,” she explained. “I definitely gained a respect for our administration and how difficult it can be to decide what happens within our school system. It shows how much of an impact students can establish and enforce when they talk with trusted adults and mentors so we can create a better atmosphere for all of us.”

“I definitely gained respect for our administration and how difficult it can be to decide what happens within our school system.”

Audrey Bahintchie, Senior at Boulder High School

Besides getting her degree in medicine and psychology, Audrey also hopes to continue advocating for her communities. She will be attending CU Boulder in the fall.

As an up-and-coming Boulder politico, Jasper Brockett felt advising the BVSD School Board was the perfect chance to further hone his public speaking and advocacy experience.

To him, it is an extension of one of the country’s founding principles: the people affected by big decisions should get a say in how those decisions are being made. Jasper was working on a municipal effort to allow 16- and 17-year-old Boulderites to vote in school board elections, but there was a change to the state constitution that killed the possibility of that measure.

As the son of a couple heavily involved in the Boulder community, perhaps it was natural for Jasper to follow in his parents’ footsteps and become politically engaged. His father, Aaron Brockett, is a member of the Boulder City Council, and his mom, Cherry-Rose Anderson, serves as the Assistant Treasurer and Civil Engagement Chair for the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

Jasper said his parents did a great job of encouraging him to explore and expand his interest in debate, policy and public speaking.

“There’s never a rule without a reason with them and if you can come up with a good enough reason that the rule shouldn’t exist, then the rule can shift and change,” Jasper said. “Like when I wanted to get my learner’s permit when I was 15, I had to come up with a debate with evidence as to why it wasn’t a terrible idea.”

Jasper said that during his three years on the Student Advisory Board, he has enjoyed seeing his fellow students find their voices. He recalled that in his second year on the Board, they had an open discussion with BVSD stakeholders about curricula. Over the years, school board members and other district leaders are coming to the Student Advisory Board more for specific feedback.

“That’s a big shift. At first we just threw it at them and hoped it would stick, and now they’re coming to us and asking questions.”

Jasper Brockett, Senior at Boulder High School

“Last year we had that conversation, and we gave feedback to the board unprompted, and this year they came back to (Impact on Education Executive Director) Allison Billings and said ‘We want the feedback again and here’s specifically what we want their views on,’” Jasper explained. “That’s a big shift. At first we just threw it at them and hoped it would stick, and now they’re coming to us and asking questions.”

Jasper said that he would recommend any student who feels like they aren’t being heard to apply to the SAB.

“If any student has opinions and thoughts they feel aren’t being heard, it would definitely be worth looking into the board to see what it feels like,” he said. “I know for a lot of my fellow board members, it helped them put their thoughts and feelings out in a space where they will be listened to.”

Perhaps surprising no one, Jasper plans to study political science at CU Boulder in the fall. He is also open to learning other skills he is passionate about.

“I plan to broaden my skills in order to open up pathways that I might want to connect with,” he said. “I’m going to look into culinary school at some point, and I know CU has a good mixology certificate you can get when you turn 21. So I’m just trying to build skills that I find interesting and that I could build a career with.”

By Karen Antonacci

Abby Cohen knew she was an opinionated Fairview High student, so when the opportunity arose to advise the Boulder Valley School District board, she jumped at the chance.

“I’ve always said that the school district needs to listen to the students more, and I always felt kind of frustrated like we don’t really have much of a voice. Then the Student Advisory Board came along and it was perfect,” she said.

Abby is a senior this year and started on the SAB her junior year. She said she enjoyed advocating for curriculum changes within the school district, specifically making sure high school students receive unbiased civics classes.

“It’s so important, especially right now, to understand politics even if you’re not interested in it. It’s really an important component to being a contributing member of society,” Abby explained. “And Boulder is a very liberal place, and if kids are not learning about those topics in school, they are getting it from their parents and their friends and only getting one opinion in the Boulder Bubble. I think that only getting one side to everything is really dangerous.”

“I’ve always said that the school district needs to listen to the students more, and I always felt kind of frustrated like we don’t really have much of a voice. Then the Student Advisory Board came along and it was perfect.”

Abby Cohen, Senior at Fairview High School

Abby remembered a pre-COVID town hall that the Student Advisory Board members attended with other BVSD stakeholders about curricula.

“There were so many parents and educators and staff, and we were the youngest people in the room. Everyone was kind of blown away like ‘Woah, why are you guys here?’” she said. “We are the ones that the decisions actually affect, so that was really cool to be able to talk to people and share our experience and have them say ‘Oh, I didn’t even know that.’”

The SAB had to shift their focus to helping the school district transition everyone online during the pandemic, but Abby is hopeful that the next cohort can refocus on the curriculum evaluation work. 

She said being a high school senior during COVID-19 was tough, but her college-level criminal justice class at the Boulder TEC kept her sane.

“I’m not doing in-person classes at Fairview because I don’t see the point for myself really. Sometimes it is easier for me to learn at home and part of me is glad to not have to be in high school every day. But I think I would go crazy if I wasn’t going in person to any sort of school at all,” she said.

Abby is very interested in criminal justice and will be studying justice and law at American University in Washington, D.C. in the fall.

“I definitely would like to become a lawyer, and so law school might be in the future for me, but I’ve got to finish undergraduate first,” she said.

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