What We Do
Our Programs
Through its Academic Awards Program, the foundation provides $260,000 in scholarships and cash awards annually to honor outstanding graduating seniors as Academic All-Staters and exceptional educators as Medal for Excellence winners. Through its Local Education Foundation Outreach Program, the foundation provides free technical support and training to local education foundations across the state and sponsors the annual Fall Forum for Local Education Foundations, Oklahoma’s premiere training and networking event for education foundation volunteers, educators and public school supporters.
Among its other initiatives, the Foundation for Excellence coordinates a program to send Oklahoma teachers to the Colonial Williamsburg Teacher Institute each summer and provides subscriptions for schools to receive Colonial Williamsburg Electronic Field Trips. The award-winning field trips help students to experience 18th-century colonial life through live television broadcasts, web site activities and toll-free access to Williamsburg historians.
In 2005, the foundation launched the David and Molly Boren Mentoring Initiative to promote the growth and development of school-based mentoring programs throughout Oklahoma. The initiative grew out of David Boren’s own commitment to mentoring and the proven impact that mentoring can have on a student’s success in and out of the classroom. One component of this initiative is an Academic All-State Mentoring Program, which matches All-State alumni volunteers with elementary school children in Norman, Stillwater, Tulsa, Oklahoma City and Weatherford.
The Foundation also administers Professional Development Grants for Teachers to attend national conferences and institutes and, in 2006, partnered with the national Fund for Teachers and the Tulsa Community Foundation to provide fellowships for self-designed professional growth to teachers who recognize the value of inquiry, the power of knowledge and their ability to make a difference. The program gives teachers the creative freedom to design unique educational journeys that will enhance their teaching and ultimately bring a world of new experiences to their students.