Dollar Bank Supports Youth Education in Virginia

In October 2023, the Dollar Bank Foundation made a $10,000 contribution to the Chesapeake Public Schools Educational Foundation. The funds will bring new and impactful programs to students in two schools within the Chesapeake public school system.

Deep Creek Elementary in Chesapeake, VA has students from preschool through 5th grade. When Michelle Ferebee, principal of the school, learned about funding from the Dollar Bank Foundation, she knew right away that she wanted to apply so the school could get a new science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) lab.

“Students want to learn and grow, and what better way to help them grow than learning in a fun, exciting, yet productive way,” Ferebee said. “This lab will provide students an opportunity to get outside of their normal classroom and inside of a lab created to hold science experimentations and investigations. It will also allow them to engage in hands-on learning with all the materials they need at their fingertips.”

Deep Creek has one other STEM lab, but Ferebee wanted to have one that served more than just the purpose of traditional sciences such as biology, chemistry and more. She wanted to open it up to the school's robotics club and students from other schools within the district.

“It allows some of our high schools to partner with us. One of the high schools reached out over the summer and they have a girls science club who took a field trip here and did lessons in the old STEM lab with the 5th grade girls, ,” Ferebee said. “So, we’re really excited about the new lab because they [high schoolers] were using some equipment that wasn’t up-to-date and now through this funding, they’ll come back in the spring to help review for science tests and do experiments with the girls in a more conducive environment.”

In the STEM lab, there will be new tables, chairs and equipment that are all based on learning, according to Ferebee.

“The tables will be dry erase so the students can actually write out their problems or talk about and discuss on the table itself,” Ferebee said. “The funding from the Dollar Bank Foundation will make it possible to have up-to-date material while they are working on their science investigations, explorations and experiments. We have found so many great uses for this STEM lab, not only to increase and enhance our current test scores, but also to just give those kids what they need to excel in science. Our young scholars from pre-k up will get that opportunity.”

Craig Daniel, principal of Western Branch Intermediate School, is using the funds received from the Dollar Bank Foundation to promote reading among 3rd - 5th grade students with a book vending machine.

“We want to be promoting strong readers and making sure they're engaged and have a love of learning, have a love of reading that's going to start at an early age,” Daniel said. “For me, that’s how it all began.”

Daniel wants students to have access to books that he once did as a kid and wants them to enjoy reading too.

“I love reading books, having book fairs, going to the book fairs and this was just a modern twist on those,” Daniel said. “If they had a vending machine that had books when I was in school, I would have been all over it.”

Daniel learned of the funding similarly to Ferebee, through a school representative, and wanted to better the school — which he has a personal connection to.

“I was like ‘this is perfect.’ Coming back to the school I attended, it's an older building and there were things I wanted to improve upon,” Daniel said. “I said we need something that the kids are going to be engaged in. I talked to other teachers and schools that have book vending machines and they were very successful and its pretty user friendly.”

“They can fundraise to keep new books and collections coming in and the kids will not get tired of it. There’s always something that can be updated, and that was the focus of it,” Daniel said. “I want something that’s going to be substantial, that’s going to remain in the building, and we can build upon each year. That’s going to be a symbol of our school spirit and our pride and promoting literacy and a love for reading.”

The students at Western Branch will be able to use the book vending machines by earning tokens they earn through positive behavior, good grades, teacher input and more, according to Daniel.

“We have an acronym, being a Bruin, that’s our school logo and mascot. Each letter represents something, the B means being safe, the R means having respect, the U is understanding differences, the I is for integrity and the N is for neighborly,” Daniel said. “The students have little cards that they get checks each day for being a Bruin in certain ways. If you get your Bruin cards and you're doing all those things, that's going to be one way to incentivize them and then again, teacher input, maybe there's a student that just had a really good week, and it's somebody they think needs that extra support to shine the light on what they're doing.”

Senior Vice President of the Virginia Division Dave Paradise worked with the schools on the funding and was very intentional about the programs it would support.

“When we started working with the schools, it was important that the money went towards experiences to truly benefit the kids and the community,” Paradise said. “We wanted to focus on having the most impact with our funds by ensuring that they reach the end user, with hands-on opportunities like the STEM program and the book vending machine." Paradise is proud of the funding and is glad that the programs align with Dollar Bank’s values.

“Both programs were very creative and reflected our mission to strengthen communities,” Paradise said. “If you help with the school system and reach the students at an early age, that’s an investment in the future of the community itself. This is our second year partnering with the Chesapeake Public Schools Educational Foundation to support school programming and we have a great relationship with them.”

About Dollar Bank

Dollar Bank has assets of more than $11.5 billion. Today, Dollar Bank operates more than 90 locations throughout Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio and Virginia and has over 1,500 employees. For more than 168 years, Dollar Bank has grown to become the largest mutual bank in the United States, committed to providing the highest quality of banking services to individuals and businesses. Dedicated to aiding the communities it serves, Dollar Bank supports quality of life initiatives, financial literacy programs and organizations devoted to helping individuals and families in need. Dollar Bank (www.dollar.bank) is headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.