Riverpoint Academy’s Regan Drew recognized as Inaugural Allen Distinguished Educator

SPOKANE, Wash. - Feb. 14, 2014 - PRLog -- Contact:
Danette Driscoll
Principal
Riverpoint Academy
509-465-7910
danette.driscoll@mead354.org
www.riverpointacademy.org (about:blank)

Paul G. Allen Family Foundation Recognizes Riverpoint Academy’s Regan Drew as Inaugural Allen Distinguished Educator

Spokane, WA -  Riverpoint Academy announced that Regan Drew has been selected to be one of seven recipients of the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation’s newly launched Allen Distinguished Educators (ADE) program. The ADE program is an award and fellowship program that supports innovative teachers who give their students opportunities to learn entrepreneurship and engineering in creative ways.

As an inaugural recipient of the ADE award, Ms. Drew joins six other educators spanning California, Oregon and Washington.  Each ADE will receive $25,000 and a year-long fellowship program that serves as an incubator through which they receive strategy and network support. At the end of the fellowship, ADE’s are eligible to apply for further funding from the Foundation to launch their plans to reach scale.

Riverpoint Academy supports all students, in creative, challenging and personalized ways, as they prepare for college programs and the 21st century economy. This is accomplished by providing open, flexible learning spaces where students engage in rigorous and authentic product based learning. In a safe learning community, students participate in radical collaboration, learn to fail fast, dive deeply into relevant content, connect with professional experts, and become innovative problem solvers.  Riverpoint Academy is another educational option for Mead School District’s juniors and seniors.

“We couldn’t be more proud of Regan,“ says Principal Danette Driscoll. “It is an honor to have her on our team, working with our students and helping to shape another choice in education for our community.”

“ADE recipients represent some of the most creative and innovative educators who are willing to take risks in the pursuit of creating life-changing experiences for students through engineering and entrepreneurship education,” said Susan M. Coliton, vice president of The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation. “We are excited to select Regan Drew as an inaugural ADE recipient and look forward to the positive impacts she will continue to make in Entrepreneurial education.”

Since 1998, the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation has invested nearly a half billion dollars into improving communities throughout the Pacific Northwest and beyond, funding field-changing research and recognizing brave thinkers that have the ability to be catalysts for change.

About Riverpoint Academy

The Academy has a STEM+Entrepreneurship focus (science, technology, engineering, and math), and compliments this focus with the Arts, humanities, and social sciences. Learning occurs as it does in “real life” -- in an interdisciplinary way, grounded in real and challenging problems, assisted by cutting edge technology and connectivity.  Riverpoint Academy is for all students who want to engage in their learning.

Riverpoint Academy is a full-time high school in the Mead School District for juniors and seniors that offers college readiness coursework, college credits through Eastern Washington University Running Start, professional partnerships in the community -- engineers, biomedical scientists, and entrepreneurs, internships, and individualized college planning guidance.

Riverpoint Academy students become confident learners because they are required to be makers, innovators, risk-takers and communicators.  The smaller, personalized school allows students to follow their passions while being challenged to grow, to stretch in their individual skill set.  Students will say they’ve never worked so hard in school and never loved school so much.

In a recent survey, parents of Riverpoint Academy students shared that they’ve seen substantial growth in their daughter or son in the areas of leadership, collaboration, innovation and analytical thinking.  University faculty, who serve on Riverpoint Academy’s Advisory Council, confirm that the depth of learning taking place is equal to that of the first two years at most colleges.

About The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation

Launched by Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Paul G. Allen and Jody Allen in 1988, the Allen family’s philanthropy is dedicated to transforming lives and strengthening communities by fostering innovation, creating knowledge and promoting social progress. Since inception, the Foundation has awarded over $494 million to more than 1,400 nonprofit groups to support and advance their critical charitable endeavors in the Pacific Northwest and beyond. The Foundation’s funding programs nurture the arts, engage children in learning, address the needs of vulnerable populations, and advance scientific and technological discoveries. For more information, go to www.pgafamilyfoundation.org.