FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 26, 2019
Foundation awards 19 grants
to local teachers
BEAUFORT CO., S.C. – The Foundation for Educational Excellence awarded 19 Innovative Teacher and School Resource Grants on Tuesday, November 19th to teachers across Beaufort County. These grants totaling more than $23,000 were given to teachers whose educational activities and projects surpass regular school lessons. “The funds will provide 3,837 unique learning opportunities for students throughout the district at all age levels,” stated Deborah Colella, Chair.
Projects funded this grant cycle range from science to the Arts and everything in between. A unique project received a grant this fall entitled “BOOK CLUBS- Bringing families and classrooms together.” This innovative idea will impact all ELA students district-wide through the purchase of new and relevant books to facilitate parent/student book clubs. Another grant that received funding was entitled “Adding Spark to ‘It’s Electricity’” for HHI School for the Creative Arts. This project will help provide funds for third graders who will be performing a cross-curricular musical play that addresses third grade standards in science, visual, and performing arts.
This grant cycle was partially funded by generous contributions by The Bargain Box of Hilton Head, Friends of Callawassie, Italian American Club of Hilton Head and the Foundation’s major fundraiser, “Jewels and Jeans.”
“We are so thankful to the organizations that help make it possible for The Foundation to award grants to these inventive teachers who want to go beyond the basic to transform the educational experience of students in Beaufort County,” says Michel Claudio, Foundation Board Member and Grant Chair.
The grant recipients for Fall 2019 are listed below:
|
GRANT NAME
|
SCHOOL
|
SUBMITTED BY
|
|
Argument Driven Inquiry
|
Battery Creek HS
|
Vincent Vernacchio
|
|
Say What?! I Can Tell a story with Video Games?!?
|
Pritchardville Elementary
|
Christina Cook, Michelle Quisenberry
|
|
Racing into Robotics
|
River Ridge Academy
|
Eric Mohrman
|
|
We Need A Hero
|
Port Royal Elementary
|
Kim Waters
|
|
LEGO by Makerspace
|
HHI Elementary
|
Beth Minton
|
|
Shared Reading Project
|
Districtwide
|
Sarah Bazemore, Pamela Rush
|
|
Rotary Club/What Lifts You Mural
|
M.C. Riley Elementary
|
JoEllen Jacobs
|
|
Sensory-Vision Therapy Room
|
M.C. Riley Elementary
|
Christie Brown, Sue Maloney, Debra Elsner
|
|
Engaging ELL’s with Novel Studies
|
Bluffton Middle School
|
Danielle Belmont
|
|
Garden of ACE
|
Beaufort Jasper ACE
|
Samuel Carpenter, Jeff Bates, Jerry Ferguson
|
|
4th Grade Musical (School House Rock)
|
Red Cedar Elementary
|
Nathan Kooi, Sarah McGhee
|
|
Theatre Funding
|
HHI Middle School
|
Soraya McCune
|
|
Book Clubs
|
HHI Middle School
|
Jody Hutcheson, Angela Bellatone, Lee Trew
|
|
Bridging the Language Divide
|
Mossy Oaks Elementary, Whale Branch Middle School, Whale Branch Elementary, Davis Elementary
|
LaToi Smith
|
|
Adding Spark to “It’s Electricity”
|
HHI School for the Creative Arts
|
Jennifer Friend-Kerr, Melinda Smith
|
|
Learning with LEGOs
|
Robert Smalls International Academy
|
Rebecca Gerrard, Barbara Mallon
|
|
Matilda: The Musical
|
Hilton Head High School
|
Kimberly Guinn
|
|
World Drumming
|
Whale Branch Elementary
|
Kelly Lee Turner
|
|
Junior Naturalists
|
Okatie Elementary
|
Danielle Hunt
|
|
|
|
|
For Publicity, email Lisa Carroll at lisapr@hargray.com or call 843-304-1922.
ABOUT FOUNDATION FOR EDUCATIONAL EXCELLENCE
Established in 2008 to support the mission and goals of the Beaufort County School District, the Foundation supports student instructional activities and projects through Innovative Teacher Grants, Innovative School Resource Grants and Student Enrichment Grants. Grants are as diverse as purchasing supplies for building a robot or establishing an eco-habitat for native species. What all grants have in common is that they spark inquisitive minds. Applications for Innovative
Teacher Grants and School Resource Grants may be submitted in the Fall of the
BCSD school year. Student Enrichment grant applications are accepted throughout
the school year. Projects are chosen on their merit by a committee of the Foundation. Since 2009, the Foundation has awarded over $270,000 in grants to the teachers, schools, and students in the public school system. The Foundation is a 501(c)3 and a fund of the Community Foundation of the Lowcountry. For further information call 843-301-7150 or visit the Foundation for Educational Excellence.