Education Foundation awards $14,000 in grants
By Angela Greiner Contributing Writer

Hudson - The diligent work of parents and the contributions from local businesses has raised nearly $14,000 for the Hudson Education Foundation (HEF). Marianne Vergano- Laughton, president of the volunteer organization, explained that the goal is to raise money that then is allocated in the form of grants for innovative projects that are not covered by the school budget.

This year the organization will finance 11 different grants to various schools and classrooms in the Hudson school district.

The grants will provide guest presentations, field trips, computer software and various other equipment and tools to be used to enrich the schools' curriculum. Several of the grants that were distributed are to sustain programs that the foundation had funded in years past.

For instance, a $2,000 grant was awarded that would provide the annual presentation and discussion by author Yoko Kawashima Watkins of her novel "Under the Bamboo Grove."

The program has been funded by HEF since 1998, Vergano-Laughton said.

"It is a fabulous opportunity for the children to put a face with the story," Vergano-Laughton said.

Other grants will benefit

children in the middle school setting. For example,

a $1,400 grant for "Predicting the Future" will be used to purchase reading and writing improvement software that will build on software purchased in the past.

HEF shares the commitment the teachers and administration have to civic education. In an effort to be consistent with this principle, HEF has funded several programs that will support the students' involvement with environmental issues, community building, conflict mediation and the understanding the development of industry in America.

The Assabet Water Contamination grant was submitted by Jessica Ross, who received $890 to purchase a supply of bacteria test kits. These kits allow the students to participate in the Environmental Protection Agency's volunteer water monitoring program of the Assabet River.

In the upcoming school year, 180 Hudson students will be involved with a service learning project to understand and find ways to combat child labor. The $1,276 grant allocated to Eleni LoPorto will fund a trip to the Lowell Mills, where the students will participate on a hands-on learning program about mill life called "Workers on the Line."

Vergano-Laughton is very happy with the support that HEF has received from the community, she said. The foundation was run for many years very successfully under the name of the Hudson Hope Foundation.

"Unfortunately, over the past few years, membership was dwindling and we found the acronym HOPE was becoming so widely used people were getting them confused with other organizations," she said.

"This year the organization went through a real business transition."

The organization adopted the name Hudson Education Foundation, which renewed interest and led to an increase in volunteer involvement.

Those interested in getting a closer look at what the HEF has brought to the school can stop by Peter Vacchina's classroom and check out new radio transmitters, telemetry receiver, antenna and Nikon close-up lens. These tools, purchased with a $1,045 grant, will allow the Herpetology Project, currently in its third year, to monitor via satellite a group of snapping turtles as they are caught in pitfall traps along the Assabet River.