In celebration of its 25th anniversary, the NEF hosted a weekend of events to commemorate this milestone.
Pancake Breakfast
Many families, former NEF board members, and community members enjoyed a delicious pancake breakfast co-hosted by the Rotary Club of Needham. Kids enjoyed mini-spelling bees, balloon animals and face-painting, while adults enjoyed learning about the NEF through an historic timeline exhibit. Thanks to many corporate sponsors, there was fantastic food for all!
Da Vinci Workshop Reception
The festivities continued at a reception celebrating the opening of the new Da Vinci Workshop at Needham High School – a space funded in part by a $50,000 gift from the NEF. This interdisciplinary learning space provides students and teachers a place to build and create. Town officials, community members, families, and current and former NEF Board members enjoyed a special 25th Anniversary video as well as demonstrations from NEF-funded programs such as Let’s Build Engineering and the High School Robotics teams. A special thanks to Superintendent Dan Gutekanst and Needham High School teacher Hans Batra for their opening remarks.
24th Annual Spelling Bee
The celebration concluded with a special Sunday edition of our Annual Spelling Bee. Over 50 teams competed in this annual community event, including (for the first time ever) teams from each of our five elementary schools! The High Rock & Pollard Teachers team came away with the victory.
Read Superintendent Gutekanst’s anniversary message to NEF!
Read coverage of the milestone in The Needham Times.
