$48,573 in Classroom Grants Awarded in 2015

November 2015
The directors of the Education Foundation for the St. Vrain Valley are very pleased to announce that on October 27th, 2015, 78 classroom grants totaling $48,573 were awarded to individual teachers and educational programs throughout the St. Vrain Valley school district.
The grants support a vast array of innovative academic projects such as:
- Timberline Preschool installing a Little Free Library on their playground to provide convenient and consistent access to high quality, emergent literacy picture books for students and their families;
- Mountain View Elementary using a GoPro camera for students to document STEM experiments, and then turn their videos into digital stories with narration;
- Coal Ridge Middle developing a MakerSpace where students will design creative solutions in areas such as media production, electronics, coding, robotics and 3D design;
- Mead High purchasing lab equipment to use in the production of biodiesel from algae as part of their biotechnology study program; and
- Silver Creek High students setting up an in-school business with a sublimation printer & press system to work with groups and organizations to provide professional t-shirt design and production.
45 elementary, 32 middle and high school, and 1 district-wide program were awarded grants.
President Eva Gaudio expressed her excitement about the Foundation’s ability to “support teachers across the entire district who are effectively engaging their students through innovative programs focused on increasing academic performance. I am also very pleased that Elevations Credit Union was able to support financial literacy education at 7 district schools by providing funding for more than 700 students to participate in field trips to Young Ameritowne and Junior Achievement Financial Park.”
Longmont Estates Elementary principal Traci Haley stated her school “is undergoing a transformation into a STEM focus school, emphasizing design thinking, problem solving, collaboration, and innovation. The funds from the Education Foundation grants are helping to make it possible for us to implement these changes and continually pursue educational excellence for our students.” The school received support for technology including iPad Minis, Chromebooks, ThinkWrite headsets, and Dash and Dot robots.
The Education Foundation extends a special word of thanks to all of the individuals, organizations and businesses in the community that make these grants possible by supporting the work of the Foundation with monetary contributions.