By Sophie Pappas
Last month, more than $29,000 was given to Zionsville Community School teachers and school groups as part of the grant initiative from the Zionsville Education Foundation.
According to ZEF Executive Director, Tracy Phillips, this year’s recipients of the grants were well-deserving teachers who have continued to use grant money for creative learning projects.
“There is some really outstanding innovation,” she said.
ZEF gives grants in the spring and in the fall. In 2013, the group awarded more than $91,000.
New fundraising events have led to this growing momentum. This year, ZEF hosted a Girls Night Out for women, which raised more than $27,000.
“For a new event, it was more than we expected,” Phillips said.
There will also be a Fall Frolic later in the year.
Formed in 1996 with the help of a local endowment and the Community Foundation of Boone County, ZEF has allowed for teachers to receive grants for programs not fundable through school general funds.
The endowment established in 1996 is what still pays for the part-time salaries of the ZEF staff, which means that every dollar raised during a fundraiser for private donation goes directly to the classrooms.
Several of the projects being funded this year include a STEM learning project with a weather balloon, for elementary students. This is a project that will be assisted by students from the University of Indianapolis.
“Elementary students are going to do something so sophisticated,” Phillips said. “It’s a true student and community partnership.”
Another project is the STEP program, for high school students with mental or physical disabilities. The STEP program provides job training. ZEF gave more than $2,000 for this curriculum to be purchased.
“We feel now that this momentum is going to build, and hopefully even better things next year,” Phillips said.
Zionsville Education Foundation 2014 Spring Grants
- Read All About It; Jonann Lamaster and Kim Megli; Boone Meadow Elementary ($2,300) In order to enhance the Guided Reading program, this grant will purchase leveled reading text sets for first grade and shared with kindergarten as well. As Boone Meadow is the newest school in Zionsville Community Schools (ZCS), supplementing their library to the standard of other schools is imperative.
- Kits for Picture Perfect Science Lessons; Rebekah Clay, Boone Meadow Elementary ($3,563.27) Picture Perfect Science Lessons are books with hands-on, kid-friendly science experiments that promote critical thinking skills in the areas of Literacy and Science. The grant funds the materials that are organized into kits and used for each lesson.
- Taking STEM to New Heights; Stephanie Compton and Tracy Vermillion, All ZCS elementary schools ($2,032) In partnership with the University of Indianapolis, this project would bring real-world STEM experience to all 450+ second grade ZCS students. The weather balloon launch would be a culminating activity for their overall study of weather and the use of technology to analyze it.
- Vex for STEM Generation; Terry Rowe, ZMS and ZWMS ($10,000) Project Lead the Way (PLTW) is ZCS’ engineering curriculum for middle school students. With additional licenses for Vex software used in this class, more students can be hands-on in this popular and successful STEM class.
- Discovering Dry Point; Brenda Jalaie, ZCHS ($526.30) Introduction to 2D Art and Drawing II students will experience creating prints and exploring a process never before offered at ZCS. Unlike relief printing methods, this form of printing (intaglio) allows the artist to draw the design rather than cut away the areas around the design.
- Dynamic Seating; Jennifer Davis, ZCHS ($1,379.45) This grant provides students with attention or sensory integration difficulties the ability to receive Dynamic sensory input through two types of seating. The chairs give students additional ways to move their bodies in a socially appropriate manner, without having to leave the classroom.
- Job Survival 101; Julie Noel, Amanda O’Donnell, Jenny Davis, ZCHS ($2198) Students in Zionsville’s STEP and Job Development programs master workplace skills, but there is a recognized need for focused instruction on social, or “soft,” skills. This grant funds a project to practice and teach these skills to students with special needs particularly impacting those students entering the work force after high school.
- Pleasant View Developmental Preschool Physical Activity Grant; Kristin Dawson, Pleasant View Developmental Preschool ($2,249.88) With the addition of another preschool in ZCS, the Pleasant View Developmental Preschool will receive funds to maintain the “Physical Activity for Success!” program. As evidenced at Boone Meadow Preschool, this project promotes improvement in the large/gross motor skills area.
- Sitting for Success; Stephanie Ruszkowski, Chelsea Bibler, Kelly Revell, Katie Stachura, Deb Hall, Stephanie Harrison, ZMS ($476) This grant provides students with attention or sensory integration difficulties the ability to receive the appropriate sensory input to increase attention to task by utilizing innovative classroom seating.
- Zionsville History Project; Martha Farley, All elementary schools ($4,095) For the past eight years, the SullivanMunce Cultural Center has provided at no cost to schools a local history unit for all third grade ZCS students. This year, ZEF will fund the year-long program that impacts nearly 400 students.
- Bring Me Back to Life: History Made Real; Amanda Vanderbur, ZCHS ($711.48) In this age of technology, it is often difficult for students to feel personally connected to events in the past. This grant funds a variety of outfits so that students can “cosplay” (short for “costume play”) United States historical figures during their in-class presentations.
Total 2014 Spring Classroom grants awarded: $29,531.38
