Ogden School Foundation -

Earlier this week, the Ron McBride Foundation awarded $400,000 to schools across Utah, with $134,000 heading right here to the Ogden School District! With additional funds from the Ogden School Foundation, this money will help power afterschool programs at Ben Lomond High, Ogden High, Highland Junior High, Lincoln Elementary, East Ridge Elementary, Mound Fort Junior High, Shadow Valley Elementary, George Washington High, OTECH High, and Polk Elementary. The Ron McBride Foundation has been a longtime champion of at-risk students, and we are so grateful for their continued generosity. Thank you for investing in our students!

We kicked off the new school year today with our annual board training at the brand-new Hillcrest Elementary! Foundation board members heard an in-depth district update from Superintendent Rasmussen, learned more about the programs and resources we provide, gained a deeper understanding of their roles and responsibilities, and got an up-close look at some of the major projects we’ve funded (the StarLab portable planetarium was a crowd favorite, where district science specialist Cory Jensen treated us to an actual 6th-grade science lesson!). We wrapped up the day with a tour of the beautiful new school. Such a great way to start the year!

The Ogden School Foundation is governed by a volunteer board of business and community leaders, along with a dedicated team of staff members, all working on behalf of Ogden students. With big goals set for the 2025–26 school year, we’re ready to make it our best yet!

What a night! Last Friday’s 2025 Raptors Night was a total home run! Thousands of Ogden students and families filled the stands to root, root, root for our home team— with foam fingers for the first 800 kids through the gates! Students formed a human tunnel for the players’ grand entrance, player signed autographs, and Superintendent Rasmussen shared an on-field message to kick off the school year. We loved every minute!

Thanks to our generous sponsors, this event raised funds for our Classroom Grants Program, which will soon be making its way to schools across the district. Huge thanks to the Ogden Raptors for helping us create such a memorable night. We can’t wait to see you back at the ballpark next year!

What were we up to today? Visiting schools with players from the Ogden Raptors! Students got to hear from these athletes about the importance of setting goals and working hard ahead of our Raptors Night tomorrow. There were high-fives, cheers, and even a surprise intercom announcement. What an awesome experience! We can’t wait to see you tomorrow at the game! Free tickets are still available at your school’s office.

Do you have your free tickets for our Raptors Night yet? Pick them up in your school's office and join us at the ballpark on Friday night for this fun event! First 800 Ogden School District students at the game will receive a foam finger to help us cheer on the Raptors!

It’s official! Lincoln Elementary has a new playground that is open for fun! A huge thank you to Cerrowire and the Ogden School Foundation for making this safe, inclusive and exciting space possible for all of our students.

Big shoutout to the amazing team at Young Hyundai and the Young Caring for Our Young Foundation for showing up for our New Bridge students yesterday! They hosted a School Supply Trunk-or-Treat during Back to School Night, making sure our students have what they need to start the year strong. We’re so grateful for community partners who help our students succeed!

RAPTORS NIGHT is almost here! Join us Thursday, August 22 at Lindquist Field to kick off the school year with baseball, foam fingers, and community fun! Free tickets available at your school’s office. It’s one of our favorite back-to-school traditions. You won’t want to miss it!

Our annual Ogden Raptors Night is just a few weeks away (details coming soon!), so let’s rewind to some of the fun from last year’s event! There’s no better way to say “so long, summer” and kick off a new school year at the Ogden School District than cheering on our hometown team with students, staff, and the whole community at the ballpark. Mark your calendar for August 22 and watch for more info next week. You won't want to miss it!

“Knowing someone who belongs to another species can enlarge your soul in surprising ways.” ~ Sy Montgomery, How To Be A Good Creature: A Memoir in Thirteen Animals

Hey Ogden School District 5th & 6th graders: It's time to start writing! In celebration of our 2025 Fall Author Event featuring the amazing Sy Montgomery, we're inviting you to enter this year’s student writing contest! The theme this year? "Teachers Are Everywhere!" Choose an interesting creature to learn about, then write a short story that weaves in fun facts—what it looks like, how it moves, what it eats, how it survives—and what we might learn from it. Ten winners will be recognized at our Fall Author Event in October, will meet personally with Sy Montgomery, and will receive a $100 prize.

Entries are due September 12th. Full contest rules and information can be found in the link below. Good luck! We can’t wait to see what wild and wonderful creatures you discover!

https://bit.ly/3U32Y8n

As we gear up for the 2025–26 school year, we’re taking a moment to celebrate some of the amazing things we achieved in 2024–25. It’s been an incredible year! Check out some of the highlights in the link below!

https://conta.cc/46vySSe

Here’s another strong number from the 2024–25 school year: 17,000+. That’s how many items were distributed to Ogden School District students and families in need from our MarketStar Student Resource Center (MSRC) in just the past school year. The MSRC provides immediate, short-term support with essentials like food, clothing, school supplies, hygiene products, and household items. There are no eligibility requirements; any student with an identified or perceived need can receive assistance. By centralizing donations in one location, the MSRC’s on-site staff can more effectively organize supplies and quickly get them to the schools and students who need them most.

Want to support this effort? We gratefully accept donations of supplies and funds. Find instructions for Meal Packs, Snack Packs, and Hygiene Kits here, or visit our website to make a monetary gift at the link below. Thank you for helping us care for Ogden’s kids!

www.ogdenschoolfoundation.org/msrc

Mark your calendars for Saturday, August 9, and join us for this free community event!

Nearly 1,000 take-home food kits were distributed each week during the 2024–25 school year to support students facing food insecurity. When students' basic needs are met, they're better able to learn, grow, and succeed in school. We're so grateful to the generous donors and partners who make this vital work possible. Thank you for helping us remove barriers to education!

Our 2025 Fall Author Event featuring Sy Montgomery is fast approaching (we're getting so excited!), so now is the perfect time to dive into some of her books! A nationally bestselling writer of 39 books for both children and adults, Sy has traveled the globe researching her articles, books, and films—making unforgettable animal friends and gathering life lessons along the way. We can't wait to welcome Sy this fall and hear firsthand about her incredible adventures and writing process.

Learn more about Sy and our Fall Author Event here:  https://www.ogdenschoolfoundation.org/fallauthor

One in ten students in Ogden School District experiences housing insecurity each year. Thanks to our incredible donors, our Student Support Centers are stepping in to help. These spaces are already making a real impact for our students who need it most and we couldn't be more grateful!

Classroom Grants Program Story from New Bridge Elementary! When Ms. Witkowski noticed her 4th graders struggling to stay focused during individualized learning time with online programs and interactive lessons, she knew something had to change. Thanks to funding from the Classroom Grants Program, she found a simple yet effective solution: new noise-canceling headphones. Now, students can plug in and focus without distractions, fully engaging with the digital lessons. As a result, they’ve become more confident and independent learners, with noticeable improvements in both comprehension and academic performance. The classroom environment has also become calmer and more focused, benefiting all students. Ms. Witkowski also used grant funds to add magnetic tiles to her classroom—a hands-on resource that brings STEM concepts to life. Students are now exploring geometry, building creative structures, and solving problems collaboratively, all while strengthening their critical thinking skills. “We are incredibly grateful for your generosity in providing our 4th-grade classroom with new headphones and sets of magnetic tiles,” Ms. Witkowski shared. “These resources have transformed our learning environment and created opportunities for growth and exploration that wouldn’t have been possible otherwise.”

Here’s another impressive number for you: 63! In the 2024–25 school year, the foundation supported or ran 63 special programs for students and staff, bringing meaningful, innovative learning experiences to life that often fall outside limited school budgets. We’re proud to support education in the Ogden School District and excited to keep finding new ways to make a difference!

We've got a super cool Classroom Grants story for you! Mr. Eddy’s CTE students at Ogden High School recently brought their electrical engineering lessons to life by designing and building their own Bluetooth Ammo Can Speaker Boxes, thanks to materials funded by the Classroom Grants Program! As a final project, students applied key concepts from Ohm’s Law and Watt’s Law to build fully functional speaker systems. They created custom circuits, assembled amplifiers, drew wiring diagrams, cut speaker holes into ammo cans, and used multimeters to measure resistance and troubleshoot their designs. This hands-on experience combined engineering, math, and technology skills, giving students real-world experience and a deeper understanding of how these concepts work outside the classroom. And the best part? Each student took home a working Bluetooth speaker they built themselves! “Thank you so much for funding the supplies needed for this project,” said Mr. Eddy. “This activity brings together engineering, electrical, and math skills and gives students the hands-on experience they need to truly understand the concepts we cover in class.”

The 2025-26 school year will be here before we know it, but first, we’re celebrating some of the incredible things we accomplished together in 2024-25! Let's start with these record-breaking numbers: more than 1,130 classroom grants and $840,000 in funding! That’s the most we’ve ever awarded in a single year to support students and educators across the Ogden School District! Through our Classroom Grants Program, every educator has access to funding for materials, supplies, and field trips that go beyond what school budgets can cover, helping create meaningful, hands-on learning experiences for all students. Stay tuned as we share even more highlights in the weeks ahead!