GAnet - Faculty - Professional Development

The Edward R. Kast Professonal Growth Fund provides what is commonly and affectionately known in the school as the Kast Grants. Edward R. Kast, better known as Bud Kast, served as the Headmaster of Germantown Academy from 1973 until his retirement in l986. At the time of his retirement, the Board of Trustees asked him what he would like most for the school. Bud answered without hesitation that he would like to develop a fund that would provide annual grants for professional development to the faculty and administration of the Academy. The trustees and Jim Connor, then Director of Development set a goal for this endowed fund of $500,000 and raised the money in a very timely fashion. The Barra Foundation, which has supported many Germantown Academy initiatives, posed a challenge grant of $60,000 which was matched with equal funds in a matter of weeks. The rest of the funds were forthcoming from trustees, alumni, faculty, parents, and friends of the school.

The Kast Fund endowment is now over a million dollars and provides approximately $50,000 per summer for awards to faculty for summer study, travel, curriculum development, and other initiatives. All projects ideally enhance the professional and personal development of the faculty. Over the course of the past fifteen years much of the work on new courses or programs, revisions of existing program, and our integration of technology into the curriculum has been funded by Kast Grants. Faculty have written poetry, short stories, and essays for publication. They have attended, developed, or presented at workshops all over the country in every discipline. Travel is a special and wonderful opportunity for faculty to renew themselves and to find materials for coursework in all divisions of the school. We have had faculty travel to China, Japan, England, Italy, Greece, France, Spain, Norway, Australia as well as to many points of interest in the United States.

The Kast Fund is a prime example of a gift that keeps on giving. Endowed gifts do that. They are a true blessing to a school over a long period of time. The Academy's faculty is deeply appreciative of the availability of these funds and compete for them annually. Proposals are due by February l, decisions are made in March, and completed reports are due by November 1.

In recent years, we have found ways to publish or present these reports to the larger Germantown Academy, and are now reaching our widest audience ever through publication on-line in "Between the Lines."