Over the years, Dublin City Schools (DCS) has earned a reputation for being one of the most innovative districts in the state. When community members and educators work together, the opportunities to grow that reputation are endless.
Dublin Education Foundation (DEF) serves as a bridge between the schools and the community, pulling resources together to make educators’ big ideas a reality.
In the past four years, DEF has funded 69 grants, impacting thousands of Dublin City Schools students.
Going above and beyond
When a teacher has an idea for a new learning experience or a need for learning materials, they can pitch it to DEF’s board of community volunteers who decide how to allocate the organization’s funds.
DEF President, Melissa Bogner, and Vice President, Deb Papesh, lead the organization’s efforts. Its grants have funded extraordinary projects under Papesh and Bogner’s leadership, and with the organization’s further advancement in the works, it plans to continue providing them.
“People think that Dublin City Schools, because of our wealth structure, in a community where we pass levies, that teachers have everything that they want,” Papesh says. “They have much of what they need and want in buildings, but it’s those great projects outside of what is brought into a classroom, like a coding project or something like that, that extends the learning.”
During the 2024-2024 school year, DEF funded a variety of projects across grade levels throughout the DCS district. These included PocketTalk portable translation devices at Scottish Corners Elementary, STEAM coding and LEGO robotics at Grizzell Middle, as well as Scioto High School’s Purple Star Club veteran projects and immersive history experiences that connect high school and elementary students with hands-on social studies field trip opportunities.
Additionally, a couple of elementary schools in the district received communication stations installed at their playgrounds where students can point to visuals to communicate common wants/needs to their peers or educators. This is especially helpful for students with English as a second language (ESL) and those with auditory or speech impediments.
Behind the scenes
Bogner, a former finance employee at Charles Schwab, works with fundraising and strategically allocating funds. Papesh, a former kindergarten teacher, has an extensive background in early education and assists teachers in writing grant proposals and connecting with other helpful organizations in the community.
Both ladies are residents of Dublin and love the area. Papesh’s two children graduated from Dublin City Schools and she currently has grandchildren in the district. Her daughter, Katie, teaches at Olde Sawmill Elementary.
Boegner’s three children attend Karrer Middle and Glacier Ridge Elementary Schools. Prior to becoming an active volunteer with the City and Schools, Bogner worked for Charles Schwab focusing on retirement planning.
Future impact
While celebrating its 25th anniversary, the organization is looking to the future and planning ways to raise funds. Using her financial expertise, Bogner worked with the Columbus Foundation to set up an endowment fund to help foster long-term financial growth.
“We started doing a little bit more long-term planning and asking how can we grow and how can we help double our funding so we can double that impact within the classrooms,” Bogner says. “How can we be a better steward to our teachers? And so we came up with having a five-year plan to build an endowment that would help essentially fund the next 25 years.”
Last February, the organization held its first celebratory fundraising event, showing parents and other members of the community the unique and cutting-edge learning that DCS is able to provide through DEF.
“I think one of the most impactful things we did is we had teachers sit at a table with community members for them to hear those stories of what goes on in the classroom,” Bogner says. “To have them talk about the projects and the thought that goes on in their classrooms is what captures the community and really gets them excited to invest and support an organization like DEF.”
Papesh has volunteered her time to Dublin City Schools and supporting organizations for 31 years. With more exciting initiatives to come, Papesh and the rest of the DEF team don’t plan on stopping anytime soon.
“Seeing an idea come to life, there’s nothing like it, and for me,” Papesh says. “Being able to see it on that end, and then seeing it as somebody on the board helping to accrue those funds so that other people can enjoy that, that is everything to me.”
Maisie Fitzmaurice is an editor at CityScene Media Group. Feedback welcome at mfitzmaurice@cityscenemediagroup.com.
