Monocacy Middle School Environmental Club members Brian Morgan, John Echeverria, Cheyanne Owens, and Isai Martinez with (back row, l-r): Community Foundation Trustee Doug Selby, science teacher Natalie Jo Boyles, Club members Tristen Ryan and Rosana Garay, and science teacher Rhonda Lambert.

Monocacy Middle School Environmental Club Receives
Community Foundation Grant

April 25, 2008: Monocacy Middle School’s Environmental Club recently received a grant from The Community Foundation of Frederick County’s Youth Field of Interest Fund to purchase materials associated with a planned aluminum recycling program and a tree grow-out station on its nearby wetlands.

Natalie Jo Boyles, science teacher and head of the Environmental Club, said that the newly-formed Club is an extension of the environmental component of the science curriculum at Monocacy Middle School, which serves over 750 sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students.

“We realized that the school itself doesn’t recycle aluminum and wanted to begin a program that encourages it,” said Ms. Boyles. “And, the tree grow-out station will be tended by the students of the Club for two years before replanting on the school grounds. The Community Foundation grant will now allow us to begin the important work of the Environmental Club.”

The recent grant awarded to Monocacy Middle School’s Environmental Club is part of the Community Foundation’s yearly grant cycle, which runs from August 15 through October 1 each year, made possible by generous donors who create new funds or add to existing funds supporting a range of worthy causes. Among those are educational initiatives, health and human service programs, arts and civic organizations, and historic preservation projects.

The Community Foundation of Frederick County is a leading philanthropic organization dedicated to creating positive and lasting change throughout Frederick County by awarding grants to nonprofit organizations and scholarships to students. To date, more than $17 million dollars has been returned to the Frederick County community. Information about the Community Foundation and its 600+ charitable funds is available at www.cffredco.org or by calling 301.695.7660.