Piron has retired from teaching at Batavia High School, but he has not left the program. He remains head football coach through this season, and continues with INCubator as a community champion alongside Bob Hubbard. The program's new teacher is Alexandra Piron — a Batavia High graduate who joined the school's mathematics department last year.. She will teach INCubator alongside mathematics, a dual-specialty role much like the one her father held. She happens to be Dennis' daughter!

The scholarship exists to make that kind of mentorship permanent — rewarding, every year, a graduating senior who carries the same spirit forward.

A decade of building entrepreneurs

Through the Batavia High School INCubator program, Piron has guided students as they turn raw ideas into real businesses — coaching them through everything from pro-forma financials to Pitch Night, where teams present to a room full of investors.

The program's results are visible around town. This spring, a team of Batavia High students built a large-type newspaper for residents of care centers and assisted-living facilities, took the top donation prize at INCubator's Pitch Night, and held a Batavia Chamber of Commerce ribbon-cutting in July. The idea began with a student's grandmother, who missed her newspaper while living in a care center. Watch for the Windmill Weekly!

“What good people children are. Given the opportunity to serve, to help in a community, to be part of something special — how willing they are to do it.”— Dennis Piron

In March, supporters gathered at Penrose Brewery to mark the program's tenth year and raised more than $12,500 for student teams.

How to give

Donations can be made at pironlegacy.org. Gifts are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. Because the Dunham match is released only after the community's $50,000 is received, fulfilled gifts are what unlock the matching funds.

The effort is organized by a volunteer steering committee of Batavia business leaders and former INCubator mentors: Dave Brown, Bob Hansen, Dominic Hansen, Rob Hollis, Bob Hubbard, Tyler Piron, Gary Ricke and Bob Vaughan.

About the Batavia Foundation for Educational Excellence

The Batavia Foundation for Educational Excellence is an IRS-registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit that holds and administers funds supporting education in Batavia, Illinois.