Congratulations GEC Graduates!
Help us congratulate GEC 2021 Graduates Elver and Juan! These two best friends have worked (and played) very hard for many, many years to get here. We all love you and are here to help and support you in your next steps on your beautiful and fruitful journey. We just know you are going to go on to do SUPER things! Well done gentlemen. God Bless You!
Celebrating Academic Successes!
Did you know that over 15% of the GEC kids received straight A's this last quarter?

On top this year, our student Maria, received straight A's throughout the entire year!

Thanks to one of our donors, we received a restricted incentive grant to help reward consistent good grades. Maria will be receiving a brand new Apple Watch in recognition of all her hard work.
New Dental Fund Helps Cover the Gaps
Thanks to the generosity of an anonymous donor, we have established the Harry John Dental Fund. This fund assists the children of GEC by contributing to the cost of dental services not covered by the other generous programs available to the children throughout organizations like NCEF.
Hooray! Pool Day for the GEC Kids
Many thanks to Mary Fahrer, a loving member of the ladies Mediterra Bible Study Club for hosting an exciting pizza and pool party. This splashing good time was a perk and celebration of great work and performances from GEC students (k-5) at the Masque-for-Aid Fundraiser. It was a fun, fun, fun day! Kiddos were over the top excited!
Benison Center Donations Make Kids Day!
Many thanks to Frank Rincon at the sensational Benison Center for his generous donation of fun new items for GEC's reward store. He also donated thank you gifts for the students to give to GEC'S staff on the last day of school.

For those who do not know, the students earn GEC (laminated) dollars as a reward for good grades, proper etiquette and acts of kindness to be used to spend on reward trips and the weekly infamous reward store shopping day. They save up to buy things not only for themselves but for their family and friends.

Thank you, Frank Rincon! The kiddos were over the top excited and happily helped to unload.

Click on the videos below to check out our Facebook page to see the kids' excitement over this generous donation.
GEC Featured Learning Program: S.T.E.M.
Wednesday was one of the students' favorite days at GEC because they get to do cool things like program robots as part of our STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) program. Students use code to tell their robot to roll forwards, backward, turn, and even fall down.

Fourth-grader Eliza had a bunch of fun programming her robot to do tricks! Check out it's cool moves and hear Eliza talk about how she codes the bot. 
Centers for the Arts Bonita Springs Helps Expand Kids Cultural Horizons
Recently the GEC kiddos experienced their very first visit to an art exhibition. One thing that made this exhibition even more memorable was that several of our kids had art in it!

GEC Executive Director Mary Asta, Center For Arts Bonita Springs President Susan Bridges & Education Director Donna Delseni assisted the children in creating 100 extraordinary masks for Gargiulo's Masque-For-Aid auction on March 29. Some of these handmade masques were exhibited alongside other local artists' pieces prior to being sold to help raise funds for the center. A few more masques still remain and can be yours with a donation to the center.
If you have any questions about GEC and its many programs, please call Mary Asta at (239) 596-1975 or email her at mary@gargiuloed.org.