Foundation Awards Annual Excellence Grants!
November 2025
The Cedar Falls Schools Foundation is pleased to announce the following Excellence Grants for the 2025-2026 School Year. Focusing on the areas of innovation, memorable experiences and wellness, 26 grants, amounting to almost $40,000, will expand opportunities for students and staff. Thank you alumni, staff, businesses and organizations, community members, and parents for making these grants possible!
- Healthy Choices, Healthy Futures: Interactive Nutrition and Tobacco/Vaping Education, High School | $999
Grant made possible by the Class of 1970 - Creating A Calmer Cafeteria: A Project for Student Well-Being, Lincoln Elementary | $2,500
Grant made possible in part by the Class of 1968 - Yes, it is an Olympic sport-Table Tennis!, Peet Jr. High | $3,495
Grant made in memory of Jim & Karen Bolger, Karen was a former P.E. Teacher at Peet Junior High - Geography Comes to Life With GIS, North Cedar Elementary | $830.88
Grant made in memory of Pat Lyman, former Lincoln Elementary volunteer - Cedar Falls Special Education Resource Hub, All Elementary Buildings | $1,000
Grant made possible by the Class of 1974 - 9 Square in the Air, All Elementary Buildings | $2,991.72
Grant made possible by the Class of 1974 - Amplifying Equity: Expanding Access to Modern Band in Elementary Schools, Aldrich, Orchard Hill, Cedar Heights and North Cedar Elementary | $4,854
Grant made possible by CF Rock & Roll Revue - Innovative Ensembles: Learning Music through Collaboration and Group Projects, Aldrich, Orchard Hill, Cedar Heights and North Cedar Elementary | $4,651
Grant made possible by CF Rock & Roll Revue - Art Tools for Success, All Elementary Buildings | $2,500
Grant made possible by CF Rock & Roll Revue - Excel Sensory Room, Excel Program | $1,500
Grant made possible in part by CF Rock & Roll Revue - Social Interaction Games, Peet Jr. High | $500
- Aldrich Sensory Room, Aldrich Elementary | $1,600
- Behavioral Bridges With The Tiger Ten, Cedar Heights Elementary | $616
- Authentic Learning 3D Printing, Lincoln Elementary | $650
- Play to Start the Day, Lincoln Elementary | $610
- Anchored in Belonging, Orchard Hill Elementary | $500
- School Wide Mail System (Tiger Mail), Hansen Elementary | $881.81
- Learning Phonics through Play, Cedar Heights Elementary | $306.62
- Flexible seating and sensory support, Lincoln Elementary | $800
- CF Tiger Pals – Lanyards, High School | $110
- From Brain to Button: Learning You Can Wear, Cedar Heights Elementary | $817.67
- Science and CKLA Nonfiction Upgrade, Hansen Elementary | $1,000
- Authentic Hands-On Learning in the Outdoors, North Cedar Elementary | $3,400
- Sensory Room Reboot, Lincoln Elementary | $1,000
- Bilingual Books for Family Story Time, Cedar Heights Elementary | $250
- Air Tubes and Tunnels, Hansen Elementary | $450
Click here to learn more about CFSF Excellence Grants!
Supporting Seniors with Scholarships
May 2025
On May 13, at the Cedar Falls High School Honors Convocation, our donors made a very special impact and investment to celebrate and recognize the accomplishments and aspirations of our 2025 scholarship recipients. The following 17 scholarships, amounting to $33,000 total, were awarded. Individual award amounts range from $1,000-5,000.
Bill Close & Ron Streed smARTstart Scholarship: Eliza Kirschenmann
Cedar Falls Rough Risers Kiwanis Club Scholarship: Cameryn Davis
Dan and Bea Brown Memorial Scholarship: Amy Tran
Do Better. Be Better. Scholarship: Alex Goetsch
Frank and Dorothy Horn Memorial Scholarship: Emmy Andersen
Janelle Wilks Memorial Scholarship: Lily Gruening
John Tamisiea Memorial Scholarship: Bradyn Lawrence
Kathy Bunger Memorial Scholarship: Britain Atkins
Kristine Martinson and Family Scholarship: Mya Miller
Lauterbach Memorial Scholarship: Sejla Meehmedovic & Rowan Phillips
Rick VerHeul Memorial Scholarship: Jaxyn Orsborn
Robert and Hazel Messer Scholarship: Hunter Russell
Ronald E. Juhl Memorial Scholarship: Paige Russell
Scott Sterrett Memorial Scholarship: Kiera Gleason
Todd Blanford Memorial Scholarship: Essy Smock & Arian Ferkic
To read more about our scholarships, click here.
Best wishes Class of 2025!
Nero Memorial Grants Awarded During Teacher Appreciation Week
May 2025
The Cedar Falls Schools Foundation celebrated National Teacher Appreciation Week with two surprise visits to support new teachers pursuing additional education. Grants were made possible from the generous memorial donations made to the Nero Memorial Grant Fund.
John and Doris Nero dedicated their careers to education as teachers and guidance counselors. After John's passing in 2011, Doris established the fund to continue John’s passion for helping and encouraging new teachers, especially to pursue professional development.
Two Nero Memorial Grants in the amount of $575 each have been awarded this year to:
- Amber Gordon, special education teacher at Peet Junior High, who will be taking a course called, Methods & Strategies for Students with Social-Emotional Behavioral & Learning Needs at the University of Northern Iowa.
- Alex Urbanek, 3rd grade teacher at Hansen Elementary, who is in the Elementary and Middle School Mathematics Education graduate sequence through Illinois State University.
Awarded annually, 25 Cedar Falls Community School District teachers have been supported through this fund so far.
Now Accepting Scholarship Applications!
January 2025
The Cedar Falls Schools Foundation (CFSF) will be awarding over $30,000 in scholarships this year to Cedar Falls graduates – individual awards range from $1,000-$5,000. All CFHS seniors pursuing higher education next fall are encouraged to submit an online application.
By completing a single application, seniors will be matched to all eligible scholarships. Scholarship criteria are varied – some are merit-based, recognizing students’ academic, extra-curricular, and community-based achievements. Others are designed to support certain fields of study, demographics or specific institutions. Scholarships may be one-time awards or annually renewed.
The application deadline is March 16, 2025. Applications will be reviewed by a scholarship selection committee and will be awarded at the Honors Convocation Ceremony on May 13, 2025.
The CFSF is honored to manage multiple scholarship funds, made possible solely through the generosity of alumni, staff, community members, businesses and organizations. Click here to see a full listing of CFSF scholarships.