NHS Alumni Foundation created to support students
Avery Chick
NLJ Intern
The NHS Alumni Foundation was created by Koree Khongphand-Buckman and Michelle Glodt (Stensaas). It was started after a leak in the roof of the old school (Gertrude Burns) and ruined a large majority of the class composites. There wasn’t any funding anywhere to be found, and Khongphand-Buckman and Glodt started asking questions as to what could be done. After the composites were paid for, they wanted to create an organization for just such instances.
The foundation would support Newcastle High School in its efforts to continue to provide its students with as many extracurricular activities as possible. Khongphand-Buckman and Glodt began reaching out to some of their fellow NHS alumni, such as Aaron Miller, who has a master’s degree in art and now produces his own artwork, as well as woodwork, credits the NHS wood shop
class for inspiring his career path. The mission of the NHS Alumni Foundation is to provide funding for extracurricular activities at NHS.
“Each year, the same businesses get hit up for fundraisers, and the community just can’t support everything,” Khongphand-Buckman said.
More donors were needed to give the foundation a good start. The two women considered the upcoming Newcastle All-School Reunion would be a big recruiting opportunity. Because many alumni would be all in one spot, the fledgling foundation would encourage them to donate. Alumni would subscribe, pledging a dollar amount each to help fund NHS activities, with a focus on vocational and business-type activities. Some examples were replacing a woodworking machine or providing funding to give organizations opportunities to travel more. In fact, the foundation has already begun helping students. The student council recently requested funding to travel to Rock Springs for the Wyoming Association of Student Councils convention, and the foundation provided the money.
The foundation is actively seeking new donors and is also willing to help any NHS organization in need.