The Williamsport Area School District Education Foundation (WASDEF) has named four Williamsport Area High School alumni who will receive its 2018 Distinguished Alumni awards. The following individuals have been notified of their selection and have been invited to accept their award at WASDEF’s inaugural Donor and Alumni Appreciation Event on Sept. 20 at Trade and Transit Center II, where they will be officially inducted into the Distinguished Alumni Wall of Fame.

The Williamsport Area School District Education Foundation (WASDEF) held its 13th annual golf outing at The Williamsport Country Club (WCC) on Monday to benefit its newly established Athletic Program Endowment Fund. An early afternoon shotgun start sent 96 golfers onto the course.

The Williamsport Area School District Education Foundation (WASDEF) granted $11,015 to the district’s Odyssey of the Mind teams headed to the World Finals this week at Iowa State University. The Education Foundation was able to contribute a combination of 38 gifts received from those in the community, area businesses and WASDEF’s unrestricted fund.

With still a little more than a month to go, the Williamsport Area School District Education Foundation (WASDEF) has announced it has exceeded its 2017-2018 Annual Campaign goal. To date, it has generated $93,073, or 103 percent, of its $90,000 target.

With just one month left before summer vacation, the Williamsport Area School District Education Foundation (WASDEF) announced its $5,000 grant to WASD’s elementary library system in support of its new summer reading effort, “Millionaires Read.” The grant will be used to purchase brand-new books to recognize and honor incoming kindergarten through sixth-grade students who complete the program.

The Williamsport Area School District Education Foundation’s (WASDEF) alumni committee seeks nominations for the 2018 Williamsport Area High School Distinguished Alumni Awards. The 2018 recipients will be inducted into the WAHS Distinguished Alumni Wall of Fame this fall. This year’s recipients will join previous inductees during award presentation at WASDEF’s first Donor Appreciation Event and Awards Ceremony on Sept. 20.

It could be said that Caitlin Winner’s future as a product designer for Facebook began on accident during her junior year at WAHS, when she “stumbled into photography class with Mr. Kelchner.” It was then that the 2001 grad was introduced to an early version of Adobe Photoshop, which captivated her interest to the point that she actually skipped health class to spend hours “painting” in the computer program. Her final two years at WAHS sent her on a trajectory to a career she ultimately credits to her late art teacher, Mr. Thomas Kelchner.

Due to meet the halfway mark later this month, the Williamsport Area School District Education Foundation (WASDEF) provided an update on its 2017-2018 Annual Campaign, announcing it has raised $21,996, or about 73 percent, of its $30,000 challenge goal. Launched in December, the annual campaign opened with a matching challenge to the community after three donors each committed $10,000 to establish separate endowment funds for the district’s academic, cultural and athletic programs.

Lycoming County United Way President Ron Frick (above, fourth from left) presented the Williamsport Area School District Education Foundation with $1,313 during the foundation’s Harlem Wizards event on Feb. 12. The donation is from proceeds generated from last October’s first Battle of the Beltway Powder Puff Football game.

The Williamsport Area School District Education Foundation (WASDEF) today released its 2016-2017 Annual Report that highlights the organization’s key activities and financial statements between July 1, 2016, and June 30, 2017. “This year’s annual report serves as an answer to the reason why we exist,” state WASDEF Board President Trisha Gibbons Marty and Executive Director Greg Hayes in the report’s introduction. “(It’s) satisfying to see the essence of our existence alive in the programs we supported during the 2016-2017 school year. The compass that has guided us for more than a decade has been succinctly captured in our new mission statement that we’re introducing here for the first time: ‘Creating powerful classrooms and inspiring futures.’ ”