Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic School

The OLPH School Percussion Ensemble Program is the first percussion ensemble program to ever be offered at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic (OLPH) School in Indio, CA. ACF Grant funds will help the school replace percussion equipment that is oversized, heavy and very old (25+ years old). Grant funds will specifically be used to acquire the battery equipment, which consists of: snare drums (5), tenor drums (3), bass drums (5), flub drums (3), and two-pairs of cymbals (2). Each of these instruments requires a harness (16), a stand (16), protective covers (16), and travel cases (16) for transport and protection. Additionally, grant funds will also help purchase marching uniforms and drum accessories (mallet holders and snare drum heads). Taught by two professional percussion directors, students will develop music literacy by participating in the program and discovering the expressive elements of music, understanding the basic concepts of music, knowing the terminology that is used to comprehend music, developing the skills necessary to produce music, and being able to reflect, critique, and connect personal experience to music. We thank the Anderson Children’s Foundation for its support!

Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic School serves a diverse population of students, with various socio-economic needs. Our school has a limited budget for technology and relies heavily on donations and community support. This grant will allow OLPH to address the technological needs of our students within the community. Remote learning has highlighted community demand for the access to advanced technology for each student.

Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic School (OLPH) is located in Indio, California and is a nonprofit, Pre-K to 8 school with a current student enrollment of 250. OLPH is accredited by the Western Catholic Educational Association and co-accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic School is the only Catholic school in the eastern Coachella Valley. True to its mission statement and school philosophy, its greatest contribution to the Coachella Valley is its commitment to providing an affordable, quality education that nurtures the body and mind, heart, and soul, incorporating the arts, athletics, and community service. Guided by inspiring teachers and mentors, they create a vibrant community that is rooted in shared values of kindness, respect, and a willingness to learn from the perspectives of others.

This grant will help the school to purchase Chromebooks for Education in order for the school to offer technology-infused discovery activities, Internet research, virtual manipulatives, and multimedia resources that allow students to explore unanswered questions. Additionally, the Chromebooks will allow one-to-one access in the classroom. Since the Chromebooks are computers designed specifically to access the rich educational and collaborative resources of the Internet, the Chromebooks will enhance the delivery of education in the classroom. Chromebooks deliver all of this without lengthy startup times, tangled power cords, or requiring an advanced computer science degree to manage the devices. Chromebooks for Education are a simple, scalable, and affordable way to put technology into the hands of more students. Chromebooks are priced right, they can be deployed in days, they ease security headaches, they turn on in eight seconds and have a battery life of eight hours, they can be easily shared, and they come with a device management package.