By Amanda Foust
The Zionsville Education Foundation awarded more than $25,000 worth of grants to Zionsville Community Schools teachers April 25.
Eight community members and seven board members considered grant applications and made the final decisions through a review, scoring and evaluation process. This year, ZEF received $41,000 in grant applications.
“The board sees how hard it is to make decisions, because each year more is asked of us than we can fund,” ZEF Executive Director Tracy Phillips said.
Phillips said innovation and forward-thinking are essential to receiving a ZEF grant, and Pleasant View Elementary’s Uke Can Do It grant application is a great example.
After many years of fourth graders learning music theory on the traditional recorder, music teacher Rebecca Hampton wanted to implement a new trend — the ukulele.
“Innovation doesn’t always equate technology,” Phillips said. “This is the perfect grant and example of thinking out of the box.”
Each year ZEF hosts a Fall Frolic fundraiser to share its mission and raise the funds necessary to fund innovation. This year’s event will be held Nov. 5 at Indianapolis Executive Airport. Individual donations and corporate sponsorships are accepted to fund the fall and spring grants.
“Every single parent can say a program by ZEF has touched their child,” Phillips said.
- ZEF 2016 spring classroom grants:
- Union Elementary—Junior Great Books: Learning How to Think Critically, Tower Garden Project
- Pleasant View Elementary—Fountas and Pinnell Red Leveled Literacy Intervention System, Full Steam Ahead in Kindy, Uke Can Do It
- Eagle Elementary—Two to One Computing in Elementary
- Zionsville Middle School—Board Games and Social Skills
- Zionsville West Middle School—Fidgets for Focus
- Zionsville Community High School—Music Technology Workstation, Tools for Transition
