Few communities in the Kansas City metro area compare to Olathe when it comes to corporate support for education. Leading the way in our city is the Olathe Medical Center. For the past 13 years, under the leadership of Frank Devocelle, the OMC has provided consistent annual support for Olathe students through their annual $70,000 contribution to the Olathe Public Schools Foundation.

Here are just a few examples:

School Nurses Emergency Fund:
This fund allows school nurses to provide for the most immediate needs of our district’s most vulnerable students. For example, the fund provided glasses for twin 13-year old girls who had gone without due to family finances. Another child needed an expensive prescription for an epilepsy medication that was beyond his family’s reach. Thanks to OMC funding, these kids are in school, learning without the distractions of their health concerns.

Mini-Grants:
With funding from OMC, the Olathe Public Schools Foundation provided classroom equipment for active, hands-on learning that is beyond the reach of the district’s budget. We’ve provided a set of books for junior high health students, illustrating why eating fast food is not good for your body. Olathe North students are studying weather and teaching what they learn to Olathe elementary students. At Madison Place Elementary, the PE teacher has students moving and grooving as they reinforce math facts and sight words from their regular classroom.

Walking Paths:
Partnering with the Olathe Medical Center, the Foundation provided walking paths at Fairview and Ridgeview Elementary Schools. The schools report that not only do students use the paths during PE and recess, teachers are using them during their lunch breaks and the community is using them during non-school hours. This gift has truly enhanced our community.

Scholarships:
OMC funding annually provides $1,000 college scholarships for eight high school students planning to enter the medical field. They have also helped support the Grow Our Own program, providing college scholarships to students who want to go to college and become educators in the hard to fill areas of math, science and special education. These students have made a commitment to return to Olathe to start their teaching careers.

The list goes on. OMC funding supports Project Graduation, Youth Congress, the Reading Rodeo, the Mayor’s Olathe Reads program, the Wimmer Student Care Fund…all in the name of preparing our students for their future.

The Olathe Medical Center exemplifies all that is good about Olathe. Thank you, OMC!