At their recent 2011 Annual Meeting, the Burlington Educational Foundation (BEF) Trustees voted to tackle a need in their school. The all-purpose little gym that is used for physical education classes, school and alumni banquets, and community meetings and events is in need of renovations and repairs. To address this issue, the formation of the RENEW! fund will enable donors to contribute dollars that are 100% tax deductible to revitalize the little gym.

Planned updates for the little gym include a new floor, painting, new lighting, new tables and chairs, and kitchen and bathroom upgrades. The extent of the renovations will depend on the amount of money raised.

Brent Garvie, BEF Treasurer, comments, "With the little gym being used by so many in the school and community for many different activities, we are asking individuals and businesses to give back to the school and community for a project that will benefit everyone in the area." The BEF encourages donations now, with the hopes of raising enough money to complete the project this summer in time for school starting in August.

Garvie added, "Only donations to the BEF designated for RENEW! will be used for the little gym. Regular donations to the general endowment remain intact." To donate, make checks payable to the Burlington Educational Foundation, but please write "RENEW!" in the memo line and return to P.O. Box 17, Burlington, OK 73722.

For Questions about this article, contact:
Brent Garvie, Treasurer
Burlington Educational Foundation
garvie@sctelcom.net 580-829-3016

The BEF recently purchased a new kitchen set for the home-economics classroom. The stovetop and both ovens were completely inoperable and in dire need of being replaced in order to successfully teach the skills needed in that department. The old appliances in the home- economics room dated back to the 1960’s and had served many generations of people. Our current students, however, are very glad that these new ovens and stovetop are now in place and ready to use. All the classes use the kitchen from time to time and our students would personally like to thank those that generously gave $1,850 for these great additions to their classroom environment.

This past summer, the Burlington Education Foundation funded a memory upgrade of the school's computers in an effort to extend the life of the machines. The project involved purchasing memory chips for nearly 60 computers at a cost of almost $3,000. This allowed the school's computers to go from running 256 MB of RAM to 1.25 GB on most machines and 2 GB for the computers in the lab. This upgrade increased the RAM performance by 5 to 8 times the previous amount. This upgrade has resulted in a noticeable increase in performance and speed for all of the computers, which allows the students and teachers to utilize their time more efficiently. Thanks to Cory Claflin for his help!

The Burlington Education Foundation along with the BHS classes of 1973 and 1974 helped to purchase ten NEO2/Renaissance Place Learning laptop computers. The NEO2 is a wireless laptop computer that a student can take to their desk for personal use. This new technology also required the purchase of two wireless receivers for the classrooms. These computers are less expensive than a normal laptop and are being utilized by Kindergarten through Sixth grades for Accelerated Reading tests, keyboarding skills, and writing skills. The availability of the NEO2 computer gives our students an advantage in learning skills needed in today’s world.

Other projects the Burlington Educational Foundation has completed include:

• Complete Playground Renovation at School
• New Portable Sound System for School
• Numerous Teacher Grants for classroom needs