Prosper Education Foundation

This year, the foundation awarded more than $63,000 in grants to teachers, counselors, and librarians for projects that can be implemented this school year.

The Prosper Education Foundation (PEF) is a crucial partner with Prosper ISD. The organization provides scholarships to graduating Seniors, instructional grants to educators, recognitions to educators through the Star Polisher program every month of the school year, and other support to Prosper ISD. Prosper is proud to have a community that supports both the school and the foundation. This is evidenced in many ways including the outpouring of support on North Texas Giving Day. PEF set a goal of $30,000 and shattered the goal when the community donated to raise more than $62,000 to PEF that day!

PEF funds projects submitted by PISD teachers, counselors, and librarians that promote promising ideas that would benefit the students of Prosper ISD. This year, the foundation awarded more than $63,000 in grants for projects that can be implemented this school year. The class of 2020 received $274,750.00 and 324 scholarships in scholarships from PEF including scholarships for: Legacy Scholarship, Bridge Scholarship, and Top 10 Scholarship. Additionally, this amount included Memorial Scholarships for Chandler Fetterolf Memorial Music Scholarship, Greg Dyer Memorial Scholarship, Officer Patrick Turner Memorial Scholarship, and the Robbie Reynolds Memorial Scholarship. Other scholarships that were awarded included Community Scholarships for: Danny Wilson Allstate Assisting a Dream Scholarship, PHS National Speech & Debate Association Scholarship, The Texas Health Prosper Investing in the Future of Healthcare Scholarship, Joey Womble Student Scholarship, FUSE Workspace “Do More” Scholarship, Cliff Freeman III Heart of a Champion Scholarship, and the Prosper Chamber of Commerce Scholarships.

During 2020, PEF awarded more than 130 Prosper educators with the PEF Star Polisher award. This award includes a copy of the Star Polisher poem by Leah Becks.

The Star Polisher

by Leah Becks

I have a great job in the universe of occupations. What do I do? I’m a “star polisher”. It’s a very important job. If you want to know how important, just go out at night and look at the stars twinkling and sparkling. You see, I’m a teacher. The stars are the children in my class. My job is to take them in – whatever shape they come – and shine and buff them and send them out to take their places as bright little twinkling beacons in the sky. They come into my room in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes they’re bent, tarnished, dirty, crinkly, and broken. Some stars are cuddly, soft, and sweet. Some stars are prickly and thorny. As I buff, polish, train and teach my little stars, I tell them that the world cannot do without them. I tell them they can do anything they set their minds to do. I tell them they can be the brightest, shiniest stars in the sky and the world will be a better place because of them. Each night as I look at the sky, I’m reminded of my very important job and awesome responsibility. I go and get my soft buffing cloth and my little bottle of polish in preparation for tomorrow and for my class of little stars.