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Noggin's 10th Anniversary Mixer We welcomed 2025 with excitement — our 10th year serving the community!  What a milestone. Our Board decided this was the perfect time to celebrate with the individuals who helped make it all possible: our incredible volunteers and donors. At our 10th Anniversary Celebration , more than 50 guests gathered to honor a decade of impact. We reflected on the students whose lives have been transformed, the families we’ve supported, and the volunteers and donors who made it all possible. We heard from our tutors and parents who gave firsthand testimonials about the impact Noggin has made.  Special recognition was given to our founding board members, whose vision and dedication helped shape Noggin Educational Foundation into what it is today. This year also brought exciting new partnerships  with Fidelity Investments  and Texas Capital Bank , both of whom joined us in supporting our STEM Strong Sisters  program. Thanks to their generosity, we were able to welcome our second cohort  of girls after the program lost funding from its original supporter. This new cohort is our largest yet! The girls have already participated in multiple field trips, met inspiring women in STEM careers, and are continuing to grow in confidence, curiosity, and leadership.   Another new partner, Dallas Children’s Charities , provided a generous donation to cover gifts for our upcoming Noggin Families Christmas Party . Their kindness will help us make the holiday season extra special for our students and families. To mark our 10th anniversary in a big way, we also hosted our inaugural Noggin Charity Golf Classic  at the beautiful Hackberry Creek Country club in Las Colinas.  With over 40 golfers and 20 sponsors, we were thrilled by the enthusiasm and generosity shown by everyone who participated.   The event gave us a wonderful opportunity to share Noggin’s impact throughout the day, connecting with loyal supporters and introducing new friends to the difference their involvement makes. Most recently, we wanted to find a way to keep connecting people with our mission all year long, so we launched Noggin First Fridays , a monthly virtual series that gives supporters a behind-the-scenes look at our impact. Each session features stories from parents, students, volunteers, and community partners who share firsthand how Noggin is changing lives. You can join us live on November 7 th   here !  As we move into the final stretch of the year, we’re filled with gratitude — for our community, our partners, and every person who has joined us on this journey. Here’s to the next decade of empowering students, supporting families, and sparking bright futures! 2025 Timeline May- Volunteer and Donor Appreciation Dinner September- First Annual Noggin Charity Golf Tournament October- 10 Years of Noggin Educational Foundation

2018 S.P.A.R.K. In 2018, we introduced several new programs that expanded both our reach and our ability to serve students more holistically, equipping them for today’s challenges and preparing them for the future. Earlier that year, our youngest son was diagnosed with Autism, and David and I quickly found ourselves navigating the complexities of advocating for services through the SPED system at school. Even with David’s background as a teacher, our network of knowledgeable friends, and the incredible support of a close friend who was both a behavioral therapist and ARD advocate, the process was still incredibly hard and frustrating. We had knowledge, preparation, resources, and someone holding our hand, yet it was still overwhelming. David and I knew that Jonathan would struggle to succeed academically if we didn't advocate for his needs. That experience opened our eyes to how vital ARD advocacy is, especially for parents who may not have the support or resources we did. Low-income students often face significant academic gaps, and without the right accommodations and support, they simply won’t thrive. That’s why we developed our ARD Advocacy Program. Each parent receives 10 hours of one-on-one consultation to help them develop academic and behavioral goals to present to the school, along with strategies to support those goals. Our advocates attend ARD meetings alongside the parent, not just to explain the process, but to stand in the gap and help advocate for what their child needs to succeed. That same year, we launched our Career Chat program. We recognized that students from low-income families often aren’t aware of the wide range of career opportunities available to them. Many have only been exposed to wage-earning jobs, not careers. And really, how can a child dream if they don’t know what’s possible? Career Chat was created to help change that. In its earliest form, the program was simple. We invited professionals to speak to a small group of students at a low-income apartment complex after school. These speakers shared their education and training paths and gave students a glimpse into their daily work life. Since then, Career Chat has grown significantly. Today, we serve 400 to 500 students in just a few days through a virtual format. Students hear from multiple professionals representing a wide variety of industries, from across the country. The virtual setting has opened the door to more creativity and flexibility. Our speakers have taken students behind the scenes—into the kitchen of a caterer, the cockpit of a pilot, a police officer’s squad car, a judge’s bench in a courtroom, and more. One of the most exciting moments was a conversation with a Secret Service agent who once served on President Barack Obama’s detail. Looking back, 2018 was a pivotal year. It helped clarify our priorities and shaped the model we use today. We continue to grow by listening, learning, and walking alongside the students and families we serve. 2018 Timeline April - First Career Chat event June - Be The Light 8k Fun Run August - ARD Advocacy program established

STEM Strong Sisters 2024 WFAA Field Trip In 2024, Noggin kicked off something really special with our very first STEM Strong Sisters class. We created this program because we saw a real need: Black and Hispanic girls are still underrepresented in STEM careers, even though we know they have the talent and potential to thrive. STEM Strong Sisters is our way of opening doors, giving middle school girls the chance to connect with women who are already making their mark in STEM and surrounding them with mentorship and encouragement. One of the biggest highlights of the year was a field trip to Mary Kay headquarters. The girls didn’t just learn how Mary Kay Ash turned an idea into an empire. They also met a panel of Black and Hispanic women in leadership roles at Mary Kay. From Directors of Global Quality Assurance to engineers, these women shared what it’s like to work in male-dominated fields and how they’ve built a culture of sisterhood, collaboration, and support. For our students, it was more than just a field trip. It was a powerful glimpse into what their own futures could look like. We also expanded our Summer Robotics Camp into a full week in Dallas, thanks to the incredible support of the Village Giving Circle, Go AeroMx, and the Nissan Foundation. Students from underserved communities got hands-on experience with robotics, coding, and engineering. The highlight of the camp was our Shark Tank Junior competition, where campers worked in teams with industry mentors to design solutions to real-world problems. Their final presentations blew the judges away with creativity, teamwork, and problem-solving. Watching their energy and confidence shine was a reminder of why it is so important to give kids access to these opportunities early on. Another exciting step forward came through our partnership with JP Morgan Chase’s Force for Good program. As Noggin continued to grow, we knew we needed a better way to manage student and family data. The Force for Good team stepped in and built a customized database that helped us track student progress, meet family needs more effectively, and streamline how we report on impact. Looking back, 2024 was a year of growth and momentum. From inspiring girls to see themselves as future STEM leaders, to expanding robotics opportunities, to building the tech foundation we need to grow, Noggin is stepped boldly into the future with purpose and vision. 2024 Timeline February- STEM Strong Sisters Begins March- Partnership with JP Morgan's Force For Good

Village Giving Circle Grant In 2023, we began writing grants to fully fund our programming, and we experienced remarkable success—especially for our first year applying. We received   a total of $20,000 from the Village Giving Circle and the Communities Foundation of Texas,  all on our first attempt.   The grant-writing process also revealed an opportunity to strengthen our data-gathering and analysis systems to better measure and communicate our impact. That year, we also embarked on developing a strategic plan, which led us to adopt a more localized approach to serving students. We realized it was challenging to effectively implement our wraparound service model across the entire Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. Referrals to   resources—such as food pantries, job assistance, and most of our teaching staff— were  concentrated in southwestern Dallas. Serving students as far away as Garland made it difficult to provide consistent, accessible support. By narrowing our focus to the southwestern  Dallas  area, we could  maximize the time students spent  with us and better prepare them for long-term success. Most of our students were  three to four grade levels behind, and one year of tutoring was  not enough to close that gap. Our goal is to work with them continuously, leveling the playing field so they can compete with their peers and have every opportunity available to them. We also began working with Social Venture Partners Dallas.   SVP is an organization that partners with nonprofits to help them achieve their goals. Through the Dana Jewitt Program—an initiative pairing young professionals with nonprofits—we spent over eight months refining our board recruitment process, creating a grant-vetting system, and organizing opportunities to ensure we pursue those that are the best fit.   Participation in that program provided grant funding from the Addy Foundation, the Sapphire Foundation, and SVP and established meaningful relationships with individuals within those organizations.   This year in Lubbock, Texas, we expanded our one-day coding and robotics event into a full week of immersive learning. The extended format allowed students to gain more hands-on experience with robotics and explore coding in fun, creative ways. Over the course of the week, participants built a deeper understanding of how the robots function and developed practical skills they can use in the future. They learned to write algorithms and conditional statements, gaining an engaging introduction to the world of robotics. One of the highlights of the year was when  we were nominated by D CEO  Magazine for the ir  Innovation in Education Award. While we did not win, the nomination itself—given to only a select number of organizations from a large applicant pool—was a meaningful recognition of our work in education. 2023 Timeline January- Communities Foundation of Texas grant awarded May- D CEO Nomination- Innovation in Education Expanded robotics to a week-long camp June- Addy Foundation grant awarded Social Venture Partners grant awarded July- First coding camp November- Sapphire Foundation grant awarded Village Giving Circle grant awarded

Robotics Camp 2022 2021 and 2022 were years of launching and new beginnings.   I was focused on building a team that could help us stay informed about trends, offer valuable insights, and provide wisdom across various areas. With a small board, we needed additional individuals to help us answer important questions. That’s why we launched our Advisory Council—a think tank of individuals who believe in our vision and partner with us to advance our mission. We also hosted our first robotics camp, inspired by an idea from one of our board members. Her daughter had competed on a robotics team, and she recognized the value of bringing that opportunity to our families. Camps like these are typically out of reach for the demographic we serve, but they offer students invaluable hands-on STEM experience, boost problem-solving and collaboration skills, and spark interest in high-demand careers in science and technology. She saw the need to advocate for Noggin students to have that same opportunity—and 20 students attended that first camp! In November 2022, we reached a major milestone: $100,000 in annual donations. Many nonprofits don’t make it past $20,000 or even $50,000 annually, so this achievement marked a significant step forward in establishing our legitimacy. It demonstrated to our stakeholders the real impact we’re making and opened the door to future funding opportunities. That December, we decided to host a Christmas party for our families. One of our core values is relationships, and we wanted to spend time with our families outside of academic programs and get to know them better. It was also a way to ease the burden of the holidays. Every family left the party with bags of gifts slung over their shoulders—just like Santa—thanks to the generosity of our donors. This is a tradition we’re proud to continue every year. 2021-2022 Timeline December- Advisory Council established July- First robotics camp held August- Launch of the youth Junior Board October- Parent Liaison program launched November- Noggin Educational Foundation hits $100K in annual donations December- First Noggin Families Christmas Gift Giveaway party

S.P.A.R.K. 2020 We started 2020 like any other year. We had already reached out to our summer program partner, and as expected, they were eager to continue. In fact, we were ahead of schedule. Most years, it takes until mid- summer to reset and prepare all the SPARK activities, but I had hired someone to take the lead . B y the end of April, everything was ready. We were proud and excited. At that point, COVID still felt temporary—just a lockdown and some changing headlines. But as the reality of the pandemic set in, I made the difficult decision: for the first time since founding Noggin, we would not have our SPARK program. Then I got a call from our partner asking if we could deliver SPARK online. My knee-jerk reaction in my head was, “Absolutely not.” SPARK was designed to be tactile and hands-on with fun games and activities . I said I’d look into it ,  hung up the phone, cried a little, and prayed a lot .  To my surprise, within a few days, I had figured out how to take Noggin online. We found ourselves in the same place as many schools at the time — figuring it out!  With a month to go before Summer we created a curriculum including digital activitie s, videos and games using online platforms without ChatGPT .  With the help of flexible and dedicated teachers we were able to make the virtual experience a success. Despite all my fears, we pulled it off and gave the kids a great summer. Behind the scenes, however, we were facing a financial crisis. Donations dropped dramatically. With so much uncertainty, many people stopped giving. We reached a point where our cash reserves were so low that I had to tell the board we would have to close if we didn’t receive more donations within the next month. Like many nonprofits, we were hanging on by a thread and I didn’t know how we would recover . Then George Floyd was tragically killed, and our world changed. The protests and conversations around racial justice sparked a movement that also changed Noggin. Friends began reaching out, asking what they could do in light of the injustices that were being revealed.  They wanted to know how they could make b lack lives matter. I told them that the majority of the students we served were black and brown.  It had been our mission to honor their lives by ensuring they have access to academic opportunities that lead to lasting success.   I challenged them , and those who had supported us before , to support our students and help us level the playing field. And our work had a broad impact, reaching beyond our students to also positively influence their families and peers.  Our mission resonated. Donations started coming in again, and many people gave for the first time. B y the end of the year, we were out of financial danger. Though it came through a deeply painful moment in our history, that surge of support helped save Noggin—and allowed us to continue impacting hundreds of students and their families. 2020 Timeline June- First Virtual S.P.A.R.K Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, S.P.A.R.K. went virtual. 67 students from two organizations were served in Downtown and South Dallas.

School Dazed Podcast At the end of 2018, David and I were invited to be guests on a podcast. It was our first time doing anything like that. While this kind of thing is right up David’s alley, I’ve never been a fan of speaking off the cuff. Still, they wanted to talk about Noggin, and as the primary promoter of our work—I agreed. As expected, David was a natural, and I managed to get through it well enough. On our way out, the station manager stopped us in the hallway and said, “You guys should do a podcast.” I laughed and quickly responded that podcasts were more my husband’s thing—and politely declined. God laughs at our plans. Sure enough, I felt God nudging me to reconsider. David and I began talking about how much we’d learned—and still had to learn—as parents navigating the education system. Even though David was a seasoned teacher and I worked in education, we lacked the support and knowledge we desired to help our kids. I’d long thought there needed to be a space for parents to access this kind of insight—originally imagining it would take the form of a blog. After the God-nudge, I realized a podcast was the perfect platform to support parents. At some point, the name School Dazed: Help for Moms and Dads of School-Aged Kids  came to me. The title reflected exactly how we felt much of the time—dazed and overwhelmed trying to keep up. We decided we didn’t want the show to be just about us; we wanted to bring in experts—people who could speak directly to the issues. In January 2019, I decided to move forward—with lots of research and a healthy dose of fear. We went back to the same podcast studio where we’d first been guests. Their setup included equipment and an engineer, which made us sound and look professional from the start. David and I were amazed at how many people were eager to join us—from local school district officials to a Mount Everest–climbing memory champion, to guests from as far away as Australia. It became clear that people were actively looking for a platform to share their stories, experiences, and expertise. And to our shock, listeners from all over the world wanted to hear what they had to say! To this day, School Dazed  has been downloaded in 30+ countries. Producing and co-hosting the show was a lot of fun and a lot of work. I took the lead on research and often came up with way too many questions. I wanted to be fully prepared—not just for myself, but to represent the curiosity and concerns of other parents like us. David was the perfect co-host yin to my yang. He brought the comic relief and years of classroom experience, while I was the well-researched and eager-to-learn-more mom. It was truly a labor of love that required a significant investment of time and energy. Eventually, that time commitment is what led us to sunset the show after 96 episodes. We hope that someday the time and resources will align for School Dazed  to return. Even now, I’ll catch myself in a moment and think, “That would make a great episode!” Our little show continues to get thousands of downloads, and we are grateful it still has an audience. David and I truly treasure the show, the time we shared exploring something new, and pray that it continues to inspire and encourage parents today.   Click below to explore Seasons 1-4! https://schooldazedshow.com/show-archive 2019 Timeline January- School Dazed: Help For Moms and Dads of School-Aged Kids  podcast launched

Hey Brainiacs! We are looking forward to seeing many of you at our mixer this Thursday, May 1st at Times Ten Cellars at 6 pm. You can find the Evite here ! STEM Strong Sisters 2025 is off to a great start and looking forward to several summer field trips. S.P.A.R.K. and Robotics Camp are returning again this summer, we are excited to continue these programs and engage with more kids!

2017 Career Chat 2017 was the year Noggin started to take off.  We were starting to gain our bearings and learning more about the support our students needed.  At the end of 2016, we met with a donor who asked us what we needed most. The answer was easy—an office! David and I had been using our apartment, and with the sheer volume of summer program activities, our bedroom was barely holding up. Plus, assembling the activities wasn’t really a two-person job. We needed volunteers to help us and certainly couldn’t invite them into our bedroom to cut and paste with us! By February of that year, two donors stepped in and solved our problem, and the Noggin headquarters was established in Arlington, TX. Side note—Robin and Chris still generously cover our office rent every year!   In 2017 we also reached several key programming milestones. We launched our private tutoring program, Homework Heroes, along with Aspire Academic and Career Mentoring.  Initially, we offered twelve one-hour sessions to as many students we could find, believing that personalized tutoring with a certified teacher could make a significant impact in closing learning gaps.  Due to funding limitations, each student only received twelve sessions, and we hoped that this jumpstart would set them on the right path. Years later, with more financial support, we refined our approach to be even more effective—but more on that later!   Homework Heroes was offered at low-income apartment complexes where existing programs provided dinner and homework help for resident children. These programs usually had around 30 students with just one person assisting them all–hardly a recipe for success. Seeing the need for more support, we started recruiting volunteers to provide homework help for these programs.    Aspire Academic and Career Mentoring launched as a pilot program for 9th–12th grade students, beginning with four freshman students from a local nonprofit, Integrity Mentors. We created this program recognizing that many students have the potential to pursue higher education and build meaningful, fulfilling careers but lack the necessary resources and guidance to achieve their goals. Each student was paired with a mentor who met with them monthly to explore future possibilities and provide support along their journey.   The Homework Heroes and Aspire programs unfortunately had to be discontinued due to lack of funding and volunteer support. Our goal is to revive these programs in the future as we grow.   These first two years were instrumental in shaping the foundation’s strategy and vision. Through trial and error, we gained invaluable insights into the real needs of our students and the challenges of sustaining impactful programs. We learned that while short-term interventions could provide a boost, long-term, consistent support was necessary for lasting change. These experiences reinforced the importance of financial sustainability, volunteer engagement, and strategic program development. The lessons learned during this time continue to inform our approach today, ensuring that as we grow, we do so with a stronger foundation, a clearer mission, and a greater capacity to serve the students who need us most. 2017 Timeline February- first Noggin office and headquarters established August- Aspire Academic and Career Mentoring program established October- Tutoring program established November- First Homework Heroes event

S.P.A.R.K. (Summers Producing Academically Ready Kids) 2015 was the year that I finally decided to pull the trigger on starting the foundation. A friend of mine who had a nonprofit informed me that he worked with the SMU Small Business Clinic to draft and file his paperwork. It was an easy process and it was free, so I decided to go that route. They only took certain cases, so I had to apply and be accepted into the program. Thankfully, I made the cut, however, I was told that to be approved as a nonprofit, a $400 application fee was required by the state. At the time my husband, David, and I had financial constraints and, $400 might as well have been $400,000. We just didn't have the money. But I forged ahead and prayed that the Lord would provide. The process went smoothly and we got everything done within a few months. Lo and behold, our financial situation was in a much different place by the time they asked me to write that check. In October of 2015, Noggin Educational Foundation became an official non-profit! That was only the first step, but the first miracle. With that first step out of the way, I was terrified to make a move because I knew nothing about running a non-profit. I was an entrepreneur. I had started a video production business (10 years strong) and a tutoring business with my husband, but the non-profit world was completely unknown territory. My friend with the nonprofit called me one day and asked why I hadn't made any progress. A few months had passed and he knew nothing had been done. I told him I was afraid to move forward and he invited me to lunch at Chick-Fil-A. We went to Chick-fil-A because I had a two year old and he needed a place for her to play while we talked shop. Lawrence inspired me out of my analysis paralysis that day and encouraged me to think of one area we could make the most impact. I had already done some research and found that the summertime was when a lot of learning loss occurs for most kids and is where the achievement gap widens for low-income students. I believed that doing a summer program would be the way for us to make the most impact. Lawrence told me my next step was to figure out how much I needed to run a summer program and to start asking for money. THAT terrified me! I've always been one of those people who claimed to be "terrible at sales". Usually people who feel they're "terrible at sales"are afraid to put people out. I was 100% that person, so this was going to be a true faith walk. Around that same time I had another meeting with a friend who was a very successful nonprofit executive. She had raised millions of dollars. Shari told me that I needed to focus on the low hanging fruit. We'd not proven ourselves as a nonprofit and I had not proven myself as a nonprofit leader yet. The likelihood of a random company or random person giving us money was relatively low. Family and friends and other associates already knew and trusted David and me so we would likely be most successful with our sphere of influence. So, David and I set out to call everybody we knew to ask them to support our efforts. We got on the phone with as many people as we could think of and told them about our vision and why this was on our hearts. We needed $10,000 for the summer program and I remember that it seemed like an insurmountable amount of money. Neither of us had raised that much money before. After two months of calling, to our surprise, we had raised $12,000! That was our second miracle. In the summer of 2016, we started the S.P.A.R.K program, Summers Producing Academically Ready Kids. I reached out to several low-income apartment complexes to see if they would be interested in allowing us to serve their children. The program would be free for the complexes because we had raised the funds, so it seemed like a no-brainer. After presenting the opportunity to multiple complexes, finally two agreed. David and I spent the end of the Spring creating and assembling math and reading activities, sitting up nights cutting and pasting in our bedroom. I remember one of the activities I created was several puzzles and each one took the length of a movie to cut. There was no Cricut then! By the beginning of the summer our little bedroom was overrun with bags of activities, but we were ready! That summer we provided programming for 6 weeks, serving about 150 students. It was amazing to see the impact we had on them. We ended 2016 with a motivated and excited four-person board of directors, a successful summer program, and a few fundraisers under our belts. There was still a lot to figure out, but we had a bonified non-profit with unlimited potential and joy in our hearts. 2015-2016 Timeline October 15, 2015 - Noggin is established as a 501(c)(3) April 2016 - First Board of Directors meeting June - First S.P.A.R.K. July - First #BoughtABackpack Challenge (200 backpacks collected) September - First North Texas Giving Day - Raise $2,000 with 2 weeks notice!

Hey Brainiacs! Check out our annual report and be sure to stay tuned to our social media and monthly newsletter for updates about 10th anniversary events this year! And the annual report is interactive! Click on the QR codes to see videos of our programs.

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