Laura once said that the true heart of education is “fostering a lifelong love of learning, inquiry and questioning, logical thinking and imagination.”
We embrace her words and spirit in our work every day, and so it is with affection that we announce the Laura Altshul Joy of Learning Fund. Over the past weeks, many of Laura’s friends, family, neighbors, students, colleagues and allies have chosen to honor her legacy by supporting Horizons at Foote. These gifts, and those given in her honor before, establish this multi-year restricted fund.
Laura saw potential in every child, and joy in every classroom. She was strong, and fought for what she believed in. The Laura Altshul Joy of Learning Fund celebrates her legacy by providing our Horizons students with equitable learning opportunities, while ensuring the Horizons community Laura so lovingly nurtured continues to grow and thrive.
Our students will raise caterpillars to butterflies, cultivating stewardship of nature’s small wonders. They will explore New Haven, hiking up East Rock and through Edgerton Park. They will write poems and stories to publish in our student magazine. They will read and read and read - some even building their home libraries with books from Laura’s own collections. They will paddle, then swim, then confidently dive - into the pool, and into learning about themselves and the world we share.
We are grateful for your kind words, your time and gifts, and to everyone who joins us on the path to educational equity that Laura forged years ago. Thank you for believing in us.
With deep gratitude,
Francie Irvine Board Chair Horizons at Foote
To view a list of donors to the Laura Altshul Joy of Learning Fund, follow this link.
With heavy hearts and deep gratitude, Rashana and I ask you and the entire Horizons at Foote community to join us in celebrating the remarkable life of Laura Altshul. Laura’s spirit is etched into our very foundation, and we mourn her passing together with all who loved and admired her.
Laura was a lifelong educator and advocate for educational equity. For 20 years, she brought excitement and creativity to the lives of countless kindergartners at the Foote School, helping them discover a love of reading and a thirst to learn. Laura walked the walk; she felt strongly that that love should be shared with students throughout New Haven, no matter their circumstances. In 1996, together with her colleague, Saylor Heidmann, she co-founded FooteBridge, the literacy program that would become Horizons at Foote in 2014. As our founding Board Chair, Laura led Horizons with grace, strength, and an aspiration to give back to her community.
During her decade-long tenure, she taught us all the meaning of courage, kindness, and empathy. Ever-willing and eager, you could find Laura at Horizons activities and events: teaching our students how to make pretzels from scratch, speaking on the history of our program at fundraisers, volunteering to help our students decipher the mystery of magnets on STEAM Day, and much more.
Laura’s legacy will guide us forward. We can honor her by living our lives as she did every day: true to her values, respectful of each child’s potential, generous with her time and talents, strong in the face of adversity, and embracing of all.
With deepest sympathy,
Francie Irvine Board Chair Horizons at the Foote School
Following her wishes, Laura’s family kindly requests that instead of flowers, donations be made to Horizons at the Foote School.