Tears of joy were shed across the school district Friday morning after several teachers received a big financial boost to help enhance student learning.
The Eudora Schools Foundation traveled through the district to award 24 teachers with more than $30,000 for innovative programs.
Foundation board members and district staff surprised grant recipients with balloons and giant checks. This year’s awards are the most classroom grants given out in the Eudora Schools Foundation’s 16 years of existence.
The foundation selects grant recipients after teachers outline an idea to enhance student learning and success. The elementary school received $19,000 and the middle and high schools both received $6,000.
Proposed grants included STEM projects, books, technical education, social and emotional learning, and more.
Special education teachers Kassondra Mountain and Jennifer Ducey received a $3,000 grant to create sensory spaces for kindergarten and first graders. The spaces will give students a way to achieve a positive mindset so they can gain social and emotional skills.
Ducey said she was shaking in excitement when her check was unveiled.
“Our ‘Feeling Ready to Learn’ is just more about the social emotional and making sure that kids feel safe and comfortable so they can do their best learning,” Ducey said. “We are just wanting grants to provide some of those sensory items within the classroom that are really hard to obtain schoolwide.”
Ducey said the grant will do a lot of good for their students while helping with trauma responses.
Jennifer Decker received $949 to create a hydroponic garden for not only her class, but the whole school to enjoy. Last year, Decker’s longtime class pet died and left this year’s students wanting an animal of their own.
Decker decided to compromise with a hydroponic garden. The project will let students get hands-on experience by growing their own fruits and vegetables.
“I’ve been trying to figure out something other than a class pet but still that they can take care of,” Decker said. “The goal is to have them [get] experience with the school garden and compare the difference with the hydroponic garden and to grow and to harvest our own food and share our food.”
At the high school, Nate Robinson received a grant to purchase Legos for his productions class. The students will have the opportunity to make unboxing videos while they open and build their new Lego sets.
“[Students] get a box of Legos and you will script your video. We are learning how to do that right now: create your shots, your ideas, your edits and all that,” Robinson said. “We will do the unboxing and then we will play with it, and then we’ll do stop motion after that.”
Since 2006, the foundation has awarded more than 170 grants and funded over $145,000 in classroom educational initiatives.
Executive Director Shanda Hurla said the foundation’s goal has always been to give back to Eudora’s classrooms to support teachers and students. It is tremendous to see how the grant numbers have grown each year, Hurla said.
“I think, today, the variety of reactions you got from staff, they had these ideas, they’re putting themselves out there in terms of putting an idea forth and it’s exciting when their idea gets chosen,” Hurla said. “I think you saw teachers and some of them were moved to tears, and I think that shows how passionate they are about their jobs.”
The district is lucky to have the prize patrol, Hurla said.
“The prize patrol would not happen, the grants would not happen, unless we have such a generous community that gives back to the foundation,” Hurla said.
Elementary Grants:
Nicole Murphy – Bouncy Bands
Paige Hayden and Lynae Rebman– Building Little Math Minds
Meghan Bettis – EES Physical Education
Danielle Medlock, Shayna Messick, Ruth Foehringer and Courtney Chacon – Expanding Expression Tool
Kassondra Mountain and Jennifer Ducey – Feeling Ready to Learn: Meeting Education Needs Beyond Academics
Samantha Patrick – Forces and Motion Extravaganza
Jennifer Decker – Growing Minds and Crops with Hydroponics
Tammi Krebaum – Kindergarten Friendship Tea
Jordan Lorenzo – Magnet Mania
Jordan Lorenzo – Morning Stem Tubs
Lynae Rebman and Paige Hayden – Sensory Smart Classrooms
Courtney Chacon, Shayna Messick, Danielle Medlock and Ruth Foehringer – Social Emotional Acuity Bride
Middle School Grants:
Barbie Hartwell – 3D Printers
Barbie Hartwell – Drone Education
Mitchell Tegtmeier, Alisa Galvin, Michelle Plegge, Danny Ruegsegger and Nathan Coulson - 9 Square in the Air!
Angie Kennedy – Book Club
Heather Moore and Amy Giffin – Growing with Games
Sondra Garner – Pickleball Nets
Sondra Garner, Mitchell Tegtmeier and Brandon Parker – Soccer Goals for EMS
High School Grants:
Scott Lickteig – CAD Lab 3D Printer and Camera
Nate Robinson – Lego Unboxing!
Morning Pruitt – Class set of Light Emission Tubes and Power Supply
Scott Russell– Fastest Cardinal in Eudora
Cynthia Andrews – Let Them Play Games
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