Derek Park Fund Grant Award Winners Announced

St. Andrew’s Episcopal School’s Head of School Robert Kosasky announced the winners of the Derek Park Fund Grant for Creative Innovation on Monday morning. The Fund was created in memory of former student, Derek Park, who died tragically on November 26, 2011. Four awards were handed out in total, three to faculty and one to a student.

Noa West ’15 earned an individual grant, along with the Head of the Art Department, Lauren Cook. Dr. Ian Kelleher and Paul Ternes were awarded a joint grant. Each individual grant is in the amount of $1,000.

Derek Park was a student at St. Andrew’s from sixth grade through the end of the first trimester of his ninth-grade year when he tragically died. At the time of his death, the Derek Park Fund was created to provide grants to students and faculty seeking creative innovation and personal development. Derek was a member of the Jazz Band (clarinet) and loved being out in nature playing, fishing, riding a bike or hiking. He was an imaginative and creative person who experimented freely with the physics in our world.

West and Cook were both personally connected to Park through the art program at St. Andrew's. Their grants will be used to reflect that connection. Grant monies will be used to create a large permanent mural at St. Andrew's. With Cook's assistance and supervision, West will take the lead in designing and painting a large colorful narrative mural on the Postoak campus. Cook will also use the grant to create a low-cost transportable mural design, similar to that of West's design, that can be adapted and replicated for use with our partner communities.

Ternes and Kelleher are partnering to bring their interests in design and science to every student at St. Andrew's by purchasing some of the newest, most innovative tools to enable students to create. Many of these tools will work seamlessly with the one-to-one laptop program. Ternes and Kelleher will also work this summer to create programs for each division. These programs will range from singular events to longer projects that may grow organically from original ideas from students. Finally, Ternes and Kelleher plan on creating a maker club and designating time and space for students to design and create beyond St. Andrew's course offerings.