New Year Update
The past year has been an exciting time for Beyond the Desk as the program begins to establish itself and improves its structure to better serve scholarship recipients.
We have been overwhelmed by the support and reception BTD has received in 2016. Grateful and humbled, we are looking forward to what 2017 brings as the program expands and is modified to keep improving.
Our newest recipients of Beyond the Desk scholarship are interested in many organizations at the high school. Ranging from student council to the Student Group on Race Relations (SGORR), Women Helping Educate Women, Operation Beautiful, and Youth Ending Hunger (YEH), the newest members of the Beyond the Desk family have many interests. We hope they will pursue their roles in their respective organizations to the fullest extent.
In November, founder Marcia Brown ’15 was recognized for her work with Beyond the Desk with the Youth in Philanthropy award from the Association of Fundraising Professionals, Greater Cleveland Chapter. Through this event, she exposed the organization to a wider range of people in the Greater Cleveland area to help generate more publicity and support. Through Beyond the Desk’s partnership with the Shaker Schools Foundation, we have been able to focus our efforts on providing the support recipients need. Because of this successful partnership, Beyond the Desk was recognized in the most recent issue of the Shaker Life magazine in an article headline “Alums Pay It Forward by Giving Back.” Additionally, the high school staff has been especially helpful in administering the program, and Accounting Specialist Marian Steenbergh has spearheaded these efforts.
In the new year, we hope to establish better relationships with extracurricular advisers and their organizations at the high school. We also hope to broaden our audience of support so that the program continues to remain at the forefront of people's minds and subsequently continues improving. Additionally, we will work to garner strong support from our current donors and those we have yet to reach. We will continue to strengthen our relationship with the Shaker Schools Foundation as well as with the hardworking individuals at Shaker Heights High School who administer the program.
