Community Partnerships

Hands for Habitat is a creative and unique partnership between Orange County Schools and Habitat for Humanity. Their goal was to complete the final home of the first phase of the Fairview Initiative. Schools, teachers, students and the larger community were involved in “Hands for Habitat.”

During the 2009-10 school year, classes at Orange High School and Cedar Ridge High School designed, built and landscaped a green-certified home in the Fairview Community of Hillsborough.

Classrooms at each grade level throughout the county engaged in educational and service learning activities specifically focused on housing issues that affect our community and world. These teacher-friendly activities were designed by Habitat for Humanity International to meet state curriculum standards.

Schools, classrooms and clubs joined with community businesses and organizations to raise $35,000 to fund the construction of the home.

Junior Achievement programs help prepare young people for the real world by showing them how to generate wealth and effectively manage it, how to create jobs which make their communities more robust, and how to apply entrepreneurial thinking to the workplace. Students put these lessons into action and learn the value of contributing to their communities.

Sports Endeavors, Inc. joined the students of Orange County Schools and Habitat for Humanity of Orange County in this effort. The goal for students was to raise $10,000 in donations which was matched dollar for dollar by Sports Endeavors, Inc.

Hillsborough Chamber of Commerce and the district have forged an excellent relationship that has increased opportunities for students and overall quality of life in our community. The Chamber’s Annual Chamber Golf Classic awards thousands of dollars in scholarships for the district’s students and in 2009 its members provided overwhelming support for our Teacher of the Year Celebration.

BizEd Connect is an innovative effort of the Education Committee of the Hillsborough / Orange County Chamber of Commerce. Our activities include business relations training for principals, building awareness among larger employers in the area of the need for volunteers in the schools, and networking opportunities among leaders in the business and education communities. The Education Committee has been integral in recruiting community volunteers to support the district’s Lunch Buddies program, Speakers Bureau and School Improvement Teams. To find out more about all the Chamber's work with the schools, visit www.hillsboroughchamber.com.

The Cedar Grove Ruritan Club is dedicated to “Fellowship, Goodwill and Community Service” and their mission is to improve the quality of life for the entire community. In 2009, they expanded their mission by showing their support for outstanding education in the community. The Ruritans sponsored and hosted the 2009 Orange County Schools Teacher of the Year Celebration. The Cedar Grove Ruritans also provide $4,000 in financial assistance to students to further their education past high school in the form of annual college scholarships.

The Kiwanis Club of Hillsborough supports the Terrific Kids program in all of the district’s elementary schools. Terrific Kids is a student recognition program that promotes character development, self-esteem and perseverance. Students work with their classroom teacher and establish goals to improve behavior, peer relationships, attendance or schoolwork. Students who achieved their goals are recognized as Terrific Kids.

Each year the Hillsborough Kiwanis Club also makes a donation to help support the Orange County Robotics Club. This club, which has student members from Cedar Ridge and Orange high schools, build robots that compete in a nationally organized event known as the FIRST Robotics Competition. This competition is a unique varsity sport of the mind event designed to help high school aged young people discover how interesting and rewarding the lives of engineers and researchers can be.

The Kramden Institute is a not-for-profit charitable organization that refurbishes donated computers and, in turn, donates them to hard-working students who do not have a computer at home.

The students each get a working PC, usually Pentium 4 or higher, monitor, keyboard, mouse and power cables. The PCs are preloaded with Windows XP Professional, OpenOffice, an antivirus program and other software.

Kramden representatives came to our schools with the computers to meet with the students and their parents. They ensured that everything was working properly and that the families knew how to connect and operate their new computers.

To date, 150 deserving students in our schools have received home computers through this program.

Triangle High Five Regional Partnership is comprised of Orange County Schools and four other local districts. This partnership is committed to all students graduating with high school diplomas who are well prepared to pursue higher education and careers of their choice.

Orange County Schools and its partners are dedicated to ensuring that by 2013: 100% of students graduate high school, 90% of students complete college tech prep or college university prep course of study and that 80% of students meet the course requirements and admissions standards of the UNC system.

BB&T of Hillsborough funded the 2010 Orange County Schools Teacher of the Year ceremony. BB&T also has a long history of supporting the students of Orange County Schools through college scholarships.

Northern Orange Education Task Force (NOETF) works with Orange County Schools, parents, families and the northern Orange community to promote a sound basic education for all Orange County Schools students in a healthy, safe and supportive environment while addressing the needs of minority children.

Members of the Northern Orange Education Task Force are heavily involved in the district’s Raising Achievement and Closing the Achievement Gap initiative to increase the levels of achievement for the students of Orange County Schools.

The NOETF also recognizes the achievements of minority scholars each year at the Sankofa Scholars Award Banquet.

Duke University sponsored the 2010 Scripps Spelling Bee. Elementary and middle school students from Orange County Schools compeeted in school-level spelling bees in the winter of 2009. The winners from each building competed for the honor of representing Orange County Schools at the Duke-hosted regional tournament at Page Auditorium in March.

Orange County RSVP 55+ Volunteer Program connects volunteers with schools across Orange County. RSVP volunteers tutor, mentor and support the overall educational mission of the district.

The Research Triangle Schools Partnership (RTSP) is a collaborative initiative between the School of Education at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Orange County Schools. The partnership is dedicated to school improvement and the enhancement of learning opportunities for all children. It is also committed to conducting collaborative school-based research and modeling development designed to improve practice.

Chapel Hill Training - Outreach Project, Inc. is partnering with Orange County Schools to provide space for four Pre-K Headstart Programs located at Central, Efland-Cheeks, Pathways and New Hope elementary schools. These programs provide early intervention services for approximately 70 four-year old students.

Their mission is to develop, demonstrate and deliver programs and strategies that will enhance the lives of children, youth and families. Of principal concern to project staff are families in poverty, families caring for the elderly, children with disabilities or chronic illness, and children at risk of abuse and neglect.

Schley Grange has been delivering dictionaries to Orange County Schools’ third graders since 2004. These dictionaries are designed to carry them through their entire education. The Grange hopes that these gifts will help the students learn to read and will assist the teachers with their instruction. With this year’s delivery of dictionaries, the Schley Grange will have placed over 4,000 dictionaries in the hands of third graders.