CHEF elects new officers and board members
Cape Henlopen Educational Foundation, a nonprofit organization which raises funds to support educational programs for the Cape Henlopen School District, recently announced a new slate of officers for the 2018-19 academic year and the election of five new members to the CHEF board.
Rick Grier-Reynolds will be president of CHEF, joining Dr. Eileen Baker, vice president and CHSD school psychologist, and Alison Hughes, secretary and Delaware Tech English instructor, who are continuing their service as officers. The new treasurer is Gavin Radka, assistant vice president at County Bank, who also serves on the Lewes Chamber of Commerce board. Grier-Reynolds is the founding president of CHEF and a career educator who has taught at Wilmington Friends School and the University of Delaware’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. He co-directs the Alternatives to Violence prisoner rehabilitation program. He has been a consultant with the International Baccalaureate program at 30 schools during the past 10 years.
New CHEF board members are Amy Draper of Milton, a Milton Elementary School volunteer and parent of three MES students; Connie Kaden of Rehoboth Beach, a retired executive secretary to the superintendent of schools in Pennsylvania’s Delaware Valley School District and a volunteer with Lewes Little League; Kerry Kurdes of Lewes, a Shields Elementary volunteer and parent of two Shields students, and also a Girl Scout troop leader; Vince Robertson of Lewes, a lawyer with Parkowski, Guerke and Swayze, assistant Sussex County attorney and parent of two Cape students, including a recent Cape graduate; and Ali Selders of Milton, a fifth-grade special education teacher at Love Creek Elementary, an artist, and parent of two students at Love Creek and Mariner Middle.
During the 2017-18 academic year, CHEF contributed more than $27,000 for kindergarten to 12th-grade Cape District educational programs in five areas: teacher grants for classroom projects, STEM, the arts, character and career development, and support for homeless and limited-income students. Programs funded included the creation of a robotics club at H.O. Brittingham Elementary; a fifth-grade photo exhibit of Mexican folk art and crafts at Rehoboth Elementary; a community caring holiday event for homeless and limited-income students and families; a courtyard stage and beautification project led by the Cape High horticulture class; and summer performing arts scholarships for three talented students selected by school faculty members.
For more information on how to support public education in the Cape Henlopen School District, go to www.chef-cape.org.
