Lane Tech Alumni Association

The LTAA Scholarship Program is our raison d'etre and the most significant component of a philanthropic portfolio of services focused on providing educational enhancements, promoting college readiness, and expanding access to higher education for the students of Lane Tech. With a cumulative total of more than $2.5 million dollars administered since the program was conceived in 1985, in 2022, twenty-four seniors received scholarships ranging from $2,000 to $10,000. This program is intended to increase access to higher education and set high-potential students on a path to success for at least their freshman year, and in some cases, for four years. 40% of these young people are from low or moderately low-income families. Many are from immigrant families, single parent homes, first generation college-bound, and all have some level of financial need compounded by COVID-related stressors. LTAA scholarships are poignant and powerful. In most cases, donors are graduates of Lane Tech, or have given their gifts in honor of family members who were alumni or faculty. The LTAA solicits scholarship donors, provides program design and administration, disburses funds, and tracks outcomes.

Connecting people and community-building is a primary focus of the LTAA. Constituent groups include over 9,000 alumni, 4500 students and 350 faculty and staff, as well as alumni affinity groups and school community partners. The LTAA publishes a triannual magazine that reaches more than 3500 readers and offers a robust communication/information conduit through various social media platforms which have a combined 20,000 followers. COVID-19 resulted in a continued reliance on technology to bring constituents together via virtual tours, seminars, and meetings, as well as service projects including online coat and food pantry drives for students in need. Hybrid class reunions were enhanced through LTAA services, and the year culminated with an in-person 50th anniversary celebration of co-education at Lane Tech for two hundred alumni and guests.

The LTAA Teacher Innovation Grant Program was established in 2010 to offset system-wide budget deficiencies and promote a best-in-class curriculum that enhances the educational experience and promotes college-readiness for Lane Tech students. More than $22,000 in awards were granted to eighteen teachers contributing to a cumulative total exceeding $315,000 since the program's inception. Grants were instrumental in supplying materials like robotics parts for the FIRST Robotics Competition and special singing masks for performers in the school musical. Teacher Innovation Grants touch virtually every one of the 4,500 students at Lane and enable the faculty and staff to offer more rigorous programs that increase student achievement. An outgrowth of the Grant program includes the regular underwriting of college bus tours that promote college readiness and access to institutions that students might otherwise never consider due to geographic limitations. When Covid restrictions eased in the spring, forty students were able to travel to the University of Wisconsin, Madison.