AWESOME FUND

HOSA’s mission is to empower HOSA-Future Health Professionals to become leaders in the global health community, through education, collaboration, and experience. This $600 grant helps fund student competition registration fees.

Hopkins High School - Jannie Sanchez, Student; Kara LeVahn, Faculty Advisor (Spring 2024)

This $1,000 grant made it possible for the Women in Jazz club to invite a female jazz musician to work with club, and to purchase jazz sheet music by female jazz composers.

Hopkins High School -Adelaide Simmons, Student; Nora Tycast, Faculty Advistor (Winter 2024)

Students in this club play Dungeons and Dragons and other tabletop role playing games, and introduce new players to the hobby. Our grant provided $500 for D&D game supplies.

Hopkins High School - Mozzy Horn, Student; Eric Turner, Faculty Advisor (2023-2024)

At HHS, the HopCares Club enables students to give back to our Hopkins community through volunteering. Thanks to their Awesome Fund Grant, HopCares was able to purchase enough fleece to make 15 blankets for those in need.

Hopkins High School - Natalia Trujillo, Student; Karl Shroeder, Faculty Advisor (Winter 2023)

This Awesome Fund grant helped add a new Boys Volleyball Club at North Middle School! Learning teamwork and growing athleticism, these student athletes will compete thanks to HEF’s Awesome Fund grant!

North Middle School - Kaleb Mhiripiri, Student; Jeff Hochstein, Faculty Advisor (2022-2023)

At Hopkins North Middle School, there is a new Bullet Journaling Club. Bullet journaling is a fun and creative way to stay organized, reduce stress, and visualize goals while coming together with friends in a safe space.

North Middle School - Helena Whitaker, Student; Amanda Clark, Faculty Advisor (Winter 2023)

Midori is a choir club at Hopkins High School helping boost school spirit and community by sharing their voices and making music together. This grant helped Midori fund a variety of materials like sheet music, chocolate for their heart-o-grams and transportation to perform off campus, among other things.

Hopkins High School - Mikayla Franke, Student; Melissa Hanson, Faculty Advisor (Fall 2022)

For the Culture is a club dedicated to learning about and appreciating the many cultures represented in Hopkins Public Schools. This $600 award funded culture night at hopkins high school, an exciting inclusive event showcasing dancers, singers and foods representing Somalia, the Philippines and some Hispanic cultures

Hopkins High School - Milka Daniel Tessema, Student; Jennifer Heimlich, Faculty Advisor (Spring 2022)

Continuing HEF’s long-standing support for Hopkins Robotics’ Technocrats, HEF’s Awesome Fund awarded a stipend of $1,600 to help the team travel to Houston, Texas.

Hopkins High School, North Middle School, West Middle School - Technocrats Team; Jason Herzog, Faculty Advisor (Spring 2022)

The Hopkins Robotics Team have asked HEF for $1,500 to create a robot with swerve drivetrain for use in testing and possibly in future competitions. The team will learn cad, electronics wiring, programming, and mechanical assembly

Hopkins High School, North Junior High, West Junior High - Matthew Norton, Student; Jason Herzog, Faculty Advisor (Winter 2022)

Hopkins VAL is the Esports (electronic sports) club, 40 students strong, who will use this $800 awesome fund award to purchase 12 sets of gaming mice and mouse pads. These special mice have extra-sensitive sensors for increased accuracy and responsiveness, to increase player abilities.

Hopkins High School - Laurel Cox, Student; Michael Babine-Dinnen, Faculty Advisor (Winter 2022)

This Awesome Fund grant purchased a variety of cubes for the clubbers to practice with and enhance their skills. As they learn strategy together, they intend to host demos at HHS to engage potential new members, and envision competing at some point in world cube association (WCA) events in the Twin Cities.

Hopkins High School - Charles Strozinsky, Student; Anne Sateren Burow, Faculty Advisor (Fall 2021)

This Awesome Fund grant enables the video production club to grow their stable of equipment and props. grant applicant Sidney Gelperin explains, “We will learn how to use cameras, editing software, and framing … and to captivate an audience through different styles of video production.”

Hopkins High School - Sydney Gelperin, Student; Cathlyn Garrett, Faculty Advisor (Fall 2021)

The Baking Clubbers were excited to get this grant from the Awesome Fund. With it they purchased shared cook/bakeware with which to expand their repertoire of skills. All members put energy and enthusiasm into the kitchen during distance learning.

West Junior High - Aubrey Grotz, Student; Nicole Coler, Faculty Advisor (Spring 2021)

This new DJ Club served multiple purposes: a terrific creative outlet for students, a future replacement for the expensive DJ’s hired for prom and school dances, and cafeteria entertainment for students during lunch hour. This Awesome Fund grant provided seed money for the necessary equipment.

Hopkins High School - Elyse Ford, Student; Lorenzo Farley, Faculty Advisor (Spring 2021)

On Earth Day, April 22, 2021, HEF’s Awesome Fund provided WJH’s Earth Club with the funds to mount a campaign of climate action and good health. Members of the club distributed stainless steel water bottles to encourage the healthy consumption of water, particularly while the school’s drinking fountains are turned off due to the pandemic.

West Junior - Addie Simmons, Student; Nicole Coler, Faculty Advisor (Spring 2021)

Girls United’s board of leaders put together wellness kits for their active members, to help relieve stress and isolation, and build community as they gather online.

Hopkins High School - Soliana Teshome, Student; Felicia Homberger, Faculty Advisor (Spring 2021)

HEF’s Awesome Fund provided the 35 members of Hopkins North Junior High Girls United Club with copies of Speak, the acclaimed 1999 novel by Laurie Halse Anderson. Club leaders were inspired by the meaning and power behind this moving novel and wish to share and discuss its difficult topics among all members.

North Junior High - Elif Ozturk, Student; Emma Randolph, Faculty Advisor (Winter 2021)

This community of gamers previously operated with consoles brought to school by staff members, but all of the back and forth took its toll on the equipment. This Awesome Fund grant purchased consoles and controllers for the sole and permanent use of the club.

West Junior High Special Ed - Vijay Clarkson, Student; Tim Williams, Faculty Advisor (Fall 2020)

HEF’s Awesome Fund for student clubs awarded $1,000 to Bigs Tutoring, an inspiring group of Hopkins High School upperclassmen and alumni providing tutoring via video. This grant is the equivalent of 67 hours of tutoring, allowing Bigs to offer free and reduced-price services to any student who needs it while proving a stipend to tutors.

Hopkins High School - Emma Rock, Student; Rick Rexroth, Faculty Advisor (Fall 2020)

The Gender and Sexuality Alliance hosted Qrom (Queer Prom), an annual LGBT inclusive prom for students across Minnesota. The event creates a safe space free of judgement, and empowers LGBT students and their allies to meet other LGBT youth and build community.

Hopkins High School - Elliot Finn, Student; Nina Bauernfeind, Faculty Advisor (Spring 2020)

The 40+ students of Green Halls were on a mission to create a welcoming and connected environment by integrating plants throughout the halls of Hopkins High School.

Hopkins High School - Ani Palm, Student; Terese Kunick, Faculty Advisor (Spring 2020)

The ancient Japanese game of Kendama builds tools for transforming failure and adversity into opportunities to learn and grow. The club planned to bring in a speaker from Kendama Institute of Minneapolis to present at a West Middle School school assembly, as well as offer twenty hours of afterschool instruction in the techniques and tricks of the game.

West Junior High - David Rothman, Student; Terese Kunick, Faculty Advisor (Spring 2020)

This group of determined young women focused on eliminating menstrual stigma by providing high quality period products free of charge in an ‘Aunt Flow’ product dispenser at HHS.

Hopkins High School - Amital Shaver, Student; Megan Mclennan, Faculty Advisor (Spring 2020)

Literacy for Freedom was a exciting new club formed at North Junior High, tapping into the collective energy of young Black males to discuss their history and their place in today’s world. Through novel studies and literacy strategies, Language Arts teacher Keenan Jones will guide conversations ranging from social justice and Hip Hop to the value of an education.

North Junior High - Kinsley Pratt, Isaac Draper, Students; Keenan Jones, Faculty Advisor (Winter 2019)

Four middle school robotics teams shared the full FTC Regulation Playing Field complete with competition obstacles funded by this grant.

West Junior High, North Junior High - Paul Bremer, Student; Geoffrey Boeder, Faculty Advisor (Winter 2019)

A group of five students aimed to restore Hopkins’ Speech Team after a lapse of inaction. The club’s goal was to increase public speaking opportunities and ability for any interested student, and also foster interest in writing.

Hopkins High School - Ezana Tedla, Student; Trevor Martinez, Faculty Advisor (Spring 2019)

Girls United MN embarked on a rigorous public relations campaign, creating and psoting empowering positive quotes, pictures and affirmations in Hopkins High School girls’ bathrooms.

Hopkins High School - Emma Rock, Student; Felicia Homberger, Faculty Advisor (Spring 2019)

This seed money helped print the first edition of ‘Reflections’, the re-booted annual art magazine, last offered in 2016-17. The student editorial team offers a showcase for their peers’ creativity while learning the process of publishing a magazine.

Hopkins High School - Teddie Bernard, Student; Jeff Kocur, Faculty Advisor (Spring 2019)

The Technocrats FIRST Robotics Club took their West Coast Drivetrain on the road to Alerus Center in Grand Forks, North Dakota, for the Great Northern Regional Competition. The team had six weeks to design, build and test their robot for competition.

Hopkins High School - Alyson Purdy, Student; Alyson Purdy, Faculty Advisor; Jason Herzog, Coath (Winter 2018)

Members of the new HHS Weightlifting Club (5 male, 1 female at the time) hoped to increase their number as they increase their individual strength. The Awesome Fund added to the basic equipment purchased by Hopkins High School; the expanded variety will improve participants’ technique and form.

Hopkins High School - Adam Cochran, Student; Heather Hvezda, Faculty Advisor (Winter 2018)

Hopkins Education Foundation (HEF), through its Awesome Fund, awarded a $365 grant to the Gender Sexuality Alliance (GSA), a social activism group that works to promote an understanding of, and educate the student body in, LGBTQ+ issues.

Hopkins High School - Sam Werner, Student; Nathalee Morse And Nina Bauernfeind, Faculty Advisors (Fall 2018)

HEF is funded the Love Yourself project, a campaign to promote positive messages of self confidence, self esteem, and body image, with the goal of improving student wellness.

Hopkins High School - Kristen Powell, Student; Denise Colicchia, Faculty Advisor (Winter 2018)

This Awesome Fund grant expand sthe scope of Girls United MN, run by girls for girls, on a mission to empower and inspire the next generation of women leaders. These young women at Hopkins High School promote STEM career paths and positive body image, introducing professional women as inspiration, and discussing multiple social issues with their peers.

Hopkins High School - Jessica Melnik, Student; Lauren Wester, Faculty Advisor (Winter 2018)

Royal Records is a safe, supportive after-school club where students collaborate to write and produce original music, mix tracks, film and edit videos, and generally have fun.

North Middle School - Audry Ensminger, Student; Matt Houchin, Faculty Advisor (Winter 2017)

With HEF’s Awesome Fund grant, The Technocrats built a West Coast Drivetrain, enabling their robot to be light and agile, more reliable, and reduce the overall number of needed parts.

Hopkins High School - Aiden Johnson, Student; Alison Purdy, Faculty Advisor (Winter 2017)

The Student-Led Kiva U Club’s Goal is to involve more students at HHS, fundraise, and to loan at least $50 in each of the 27 countries represented by HHS students.

High School - Jane Nelson And Katherine Kadoun, Students; Tim Owen, Faculty Advisor (Fall 2016)