An NEF Story At NEF's recent Annual Appreciation Breakfast, Tara Bradbury, Social Worker at Elmwood Elementary School, offered her own unique perspective about NEF. She originally thought she would talk about one particular NEF Annual Grant Award that she received...

An NEF Story It was a sound not ordinarily heard in a high school corridor: a soft buzzing, like a small fan. The sight was also unique…a black, spiderlike device whizzing, chest high, up and down the hallway. No better time to test a homemade “drone” quadcopter than...

NEF Story The "Mini Patriot 3D Print Shop" at Jefferson Junior High School brings a hands-on experience to Project Lead the Way students who before could only look at their ideas on paper, but now can make them real with a MakerBot Mini 3D printer. Nothing is more...

NEF Story Art meets science at Highlands Elementary School, where an NEF grant is helping third grade students create "light paintings" using familiar tools: digital cameras and flashlights. Art teacher Kyle Wood said students apply software that allows for long...

Each time NEF provides an opportunity or a service to the youth of Naperville through the Kid Booster Anonymous Fund, a message of hope and a sense of caring accompanies the experience. An underlying message of “you are worth investing in” is embedded.

NEF Story A collective groan went up from the group of middle school boys as they were told to settle down and get ready to play the Mozart sonata they had been working on. The time for joking and jostling was over. But instead of picking up a violin or a flute to...

NEF Story As Common Core standards continue to raise the bar for education, the necessity for hands-on learning experiences becomes greater and greater. New science standards are being implemented next year, and District 203 will have a unique tool for students with...

NEF Story District 203 teachers see it every day. Distraction. Difficulty focusing on the lesson. Behavior that disrupts the classroom. And eventually the teacher will send the student down to the office. But instead of going to see the principal, the student steps...

An NEF StoryChristine Bell was in the thick of planning a field trip to Orlando, Florida for the students in her marketing class at Naperville Central High School. Every year she takes 10th, 11th and 12th graders on a whirlwind trip where they can take seminars with...

NEF Story Anyone who has difficulty calculating numbers, percentages or fractions, can empathize with students who groan at the thought of math classes and the prospect of high school algebra. For some students, simple math equations may as well be quantum mechanics....

An NEF Story Watch D.O.G.S. are filling elementary schools across Naperville. These "Dads of Great Students" are providing high fives on the way into school, a new face in the lunchroom and on the playground, and another set of eyes in the buildings. They are quickly...

NEF Story Marissa had been spending her lunch hours on the cot in Pam Seubold's office at Naperville North pretty much ever since she'd started there in the middle of the year. It was a safe place, and she wasn't the only girl hanging out in the nurse's office at...