Longtime assistant to Apollo-Ridge superintendent retires, but work with education foundation continues

Whether it was increasing donations for the Apollo-Ridge Education Foundation to $250,000 or hooking up the school’s jazz-rock club with the top Led Zeppelin cover band, Cris Kostiuk was there.

After 20 years with the Apollo-Ridge School District, Kostiuk, 62, of Kiski Township retired this week as the administrative assistant to the superintendent.

She will still serve as president of the Apollo-Ridge Education Foundation for the next year.

The time was right given her age and retirement package, Kostiuk said.

“I want time just to enjoy life,” she said. “There are too many trails to ride horses on.”

Born in Colorado Springs, Colo., when her dad served in the military, Kostiuk graduated from Leechburg Area High School in 1977. She worked a variety of jobs, from sales and marketing to a doctor’s office to radio and television. She started her work in the district as a middle school guidance secretary then got a job working in the superintendent’s office.

While her office job was behind the scenes, Kostiuk was highly visible with her leadership of the education foundation. She racked up donations to $250,000 in the last several years, which paid for vital equipment in the school’s technology education shop and other areas as well as public projects such as the 15-by-50-foot glass mosaic near the town entrance to Apollo.

“Mrs. Kostiuk’s leadership with the Education Foundation allowed us to highlight the many successes and accomplishments of our students and staff as never before,” said Superintendent Matt Curci. “Where once we had been described as ‘the best-kept secret in Western Pennsylvania,’ that is no longer the case.”

He credits Kostiuk with generating tens of thousands of dollars in grants and donations for educational opportunities that wouldn’t have been possible previously.

Kostiuk said her energy and passion were inspired by what was going on in the classroom and community.

For example, after some district cutbacks a few years ago, an art teacher, Dan Barrett, was teaching an English class. On his own, Barrett took a robotics class and integrated small robots for students to create dioramas of scenes from “Romeo and Juliet.”

When Kostiuk walked into the English class, she saw the students working with the robotics and sensed the buzz.

“To see it in action, to see the students and Dan in their glory, when you see stuff like that, how can you not get excited?” she said.

Kostiuk then secured more funding for integrating robotics in district classes as well as guitars and other equipment that might not be paid for from the district’s tight budget.

That’s where growing the foundation came in.

The foundation was founded by former Superintendent William Kerr in 1996.

“I think he could see the value in using that group to fund stuff in the school,” Kostiuk said.

Initially, the foundation found funding to provide 10 “innovative project” grants of $500 to teachers annually for them to buy additional materials for their classes.

Then the foundation tapped the state Educational Improvement Tax Credit Program (EITC) where businesses could get tax credits for donations to nonprofits.

“That tax credit program was a turning point,” Kostiuk said. “We branched out and found donors.”

Kostiuk got more involved in the communities with the foundation receiving donations from local businesses.

“I always say doing my job was like working a puzzle,” she said. “I made a career of not knowing anything — but knowing how to get somewhere.”

Her work with the foundation provided opportunities to get involved with community groups, business associations and chambers of commerce. She got to know so many people and was able to connect them with projects.

The foundation’s work became more community involved and driven.

“That was the biggest thing that made it successful: letting people know what their kids were doing every day. And here are new programs that we can fund and we have business partners to help, and it snowballed.”

Two of the projects including public artwork by students — the mosaic at the entrance of Apollo and most recently, murals around 15 storm drains in Apollo to draw attention to the public’s impact on the water quality of the Kiski River.

Kostiuk involved residents from Apollo’s senior center for the mosaic project, not just in the production but in participating in oral histories of the town for a kiosk across the street explaining the mosaic.

The partnership with the senior center created more opportunities for students — who still visit residents at the center, Kostiuk said.

“More than the money, the foundation projects have helped educate the community on what the school does,” she said, “and that we all can take pride in Apollo-Ridge.”