Welcome to the Spanish Education Fund

The Spanish Education Fund (SEF) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization formed in 2009. Our purpose is to raise money and recruit parent volunteers to support the International Teaching Intern Program at Eagle Heights Spanish Immersion School (K-6), Central Middle School (7-8) and Eden Prairie High School (9-12).

Interns from Spanish speaking countries from around the world assist teachers and students in classrooms at these schools, providing a unique educational resource that has been proven extremely valuable to language acquisition, by bring their language and cultures to life. As a result, students become more confident in their ability to communicate in Spanish and create connections to people and places outside of their own world.

In addition to fundraising, we work with school staff to review and select intern candidates, recruit host and buddy families for the interns from our parent community for the duration of their stay, collect donations of winter clothing, organize parent volunteers to provide transportation for interns, and many other things to ensure interns have a positive experience while in the U.S. gaining valuable experience in the field of education.

 
 

Our Mission

Support the Eden Prairie Spanish immersion program, through sustainable funding, to host the best volunteer international Spanish speaking interns and provide other educational and cultural resources.

Why Do We Have Interns?

Interns bring their languages and cultures to life, and as a result, students become more confident in their ability to communicate in Spanish across dialects.

Research indicates that native speakers are a best practice component to a successful immersion program. They model conversational Spanish and expose students to native pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary. This cross-cultural exchange benefits both the students and the interns by creating a connection to people and places outside of their own world.

As a school community, we value hosting international interns so they can learn about American culture, improve their English, and gain valuable experience through their interactions with students, staff and host/buddy families. They are also an incredibly valuable asset to our teachers in the classrooms and beyond!

To learn more about the interns in our schools, please visit the intern program page.

 

Meet the 2023-2024 Interns

 

TEACHER TIME RAFFLE IS BACK!

The ever popular Teacher Time Raffle (TTR) is back the week of December 4-8, 2023! TTR is sponsored by the Spanish Education Fund and gives students the opportunity to win a special activity or event that the teachers and administrators of EHSI have so generously donated! Money raised goes directly to help fund our amazing International Intern Teaching Program.

Packets with raffle tickets will go home with scholars the week of Thanksgiving. Raffle tickets are $5 each, or you can get a page of 5 tickets for $20. Need more tickets than what was sent home? Download more here!

All tickets and payments must be returned via your child’s backpack by Friday, December 8th, at 9am! Any funds and tickets received after that time will not be able to be included in the drawing and will be deemed as a donation to the SEF.

ANNUAL CONTRIBUTIONS

Thank you to all the families who have already made their 22023-2024 contributions. In a typical year, the SEF budgets $60K in parent contributions to sponsor the interns in our program.  As of October 2023 we have collected $26K. If we do not reach our goal, we must begin reducing the number of interns we can invite to our school next year. For the 2024-2025 school year we are hoping to have 16 interns, but as of now can only sponsor 4.

Please remember that annual contributions are the SEF’s primary source of funding for the Intern Program. We receive no financial support from the school district or schools. You can make your annual contribution (suggested contribution: $150/child) below or through Venmo! You can even set up budget friendly monthly payments via PayPal using the subscribe button!  We are a 501(c)(3) organization and your contributions are tax deductible.

Your support is vital to the continuation of this important component of our children’s immersion education.  Thank you for your support!

Employer matching

Don’t forget… employer matching and workplace-based donation campaigns are another source of funding for the intern program. Many employers will match their employee’s donation, doubling the gift. Several families participate in these each year. To find out if your company matches, contact your human resources department.

Payment Options:
PayPal: info@spanisheducationfund.org

SEF is now on Venmo!




Monthly Annual Contribution

Want to spread out your Annual Contribution into budget friendly monthly payments? Select a monthly payment option from the drop down menu and click the SUBSCRIBE button below instead to make monthly Annual Contribution donations.


Monthly Payment Options



Checks

Make checks payable to the Spanish Education Fund and mail to:

SEF Treasurer
c/o Eagle Heights Spanish Immersion School
13400 Staring Lake Parkway
Eden Prairie, MN 55347

SEF Federal Tax ID# 27-0584708

 

 

Spanish Education Fund  |  Expanding our children’s world