2022 - 2023 Grant Awards
Educators in District 87 and Unit 5 submitted 77 mini and standard grant applications requesting a total of $160,191. The Foundation awarded $98,527 to 54 projects.
Early Education & Elementary Schools
Benjamin
* Mary Aper, Mary Current, Jessica Flood, Amanda Dytrych, and Amber Thomas | $1963 | I like to MOVE IT, MOVE IT...Math!
* Amanda Johnson | $4300 | Diversity in Speech-Language Therapy
* Lauren Romero and Jennifer Gibson | $4059 | Rhythm and Remnants a study of music and fractions!
* Lauren Romero | $4246 | Everyone's a Musician! Resources for our diverse student population
Brigham Early Learning
* Haley Safranek, Mellisa Kummer | $2664 | Super Sensory Spaces!
CARLOCK
* Stacy Herren | $894 | Sensory Bin for the Win
CEDAR RIDGE
* Tracey Lake | $461 | Famous Third Graders
* Deborah Presley and Nancy Bridges | $2200 | Got Game? Math Learning Library
* Lyndra Webb | $391 | I can be in 2 places at once!
EUGENE fIELD
* Jordan Newton- Gonzalez | $1500 | Exercise/Recreation Opportunities
* Abigail Everett | $200 | Kitchen Items
GROVE
* Heather Damery and Emily Kauten | $1991 | Celebrating Our Differences Through Reading and Play
* Andrea Norton | $1675 | Walking through Books- StoryWalk
OAKDALE
* Melissa Smith | $344 | Thinking About Thinking
OAKLAND
* Danielle Morton and Jamie Wolfe | $374 | Play is Essential, That's a Fact!
PARKSIDE
* Mackenzie Escher | $3766 | Structuring Student Success
Prairieland
* Jill Garneau, Drew Emerick and Bryan Schultz | $2081 | Food Play - Making Healthy Food Choices to Fuel Your Body
* Kelli Halsey | $3772 | Genre Juice
* Kim McHenry and Nathan Ford | $1750 | Expanding Viewpoints: An Introduction to Photography in Elementary Art
SUGAR CREEK
* Karen Showalter | $225 | Getting Back in the Swing of Things!
* Karen Showalter | $305 | Strengthening the Language Rope
* Karen Showalter | $306 | Diversity is fact; Inclusion is act
* Laura Yost | $400 | Turning the Page in Pre-K
* Jennifer Gibson, Melanie Nemtusiak, and Leeann Bain | $1672 | Developing Writing and Math Skills through Game Play
* Jennifer Gibson, Julie McCully, Lori Ellison, and Autumn Stanton | $1774 | Developing Flexible and Fluent Thinkers
* Erin Bersche, Jennifer Armstrong, and Natalie Crump | $4500 | Get Your THIRD Grade On!
Junior High/Middle Schools
BLOOMINGTON JHS
* Suzie Hutton | $725 | The Power of our Voices - Story Slam
Chiddix JHS
* Sara Tracey and Michelle Glatt | $370 | Tutorial Retreat
* Amanda Armstrong and Christina Culbertson | $3122 | Multilingual Library
Evans JHS
* Carolyn Franks, Joely McCaw, and Bethany Schlipf | $987 | Going to School is Cool!
* Cally Hutson and Melissa Blaum | $950 | Cracking the Code
Parkside JHS
* Debbie Brown | $472 | Build Your Social-Emotional Toolbox
* Jessica Lawent | $1500 | Using Escape Boxes to Increase Problem Solving in Middle School Students
* Cassie Lee | $305 | Board Games For A Better Life
High Schools
Normal Community High School
* Brad Bovenkerk | $4900 | Broadcast and Multimodal Student Journalism
* Victoria Kobel | $4000 | CPR In Schools
* Stefen Robinson | $4000 | Experimental Ensemble Equipment
* Hunter Watts | $389 | Bringing the Past into the Present: School Archive Foundations
* Donald Whitman | $4988 | Welding the Future
* David Witzig | $340 | Team Book
Normal Community West High School
* Parker Bane | $4949 | Nice calves! - Veterinary Science Simulator
* Len Childers | $396 | In Tune with Executive FUNktioning
* Jen Hamler | $195 | 30 Heads are Better than One
* Amanda Long | $1367 | Go with the Flow of Genetic Info
* Abagail Primo | $1180 | Co-Dominance and Blood Typing: An Inquiry-Based Biological Mystery
* April Schermann || $2277 | Coding Takes Flight Using the Finch Robot
* Brandee Soard and Valerie Higby | $2456 | Foreign Language Encounters IRL
* Jackson Suddarth | $573 | Designing a Bright Future
* Lisa Tomlin | $260 | Incredible Inflatable Lungs
* Lisa Tomlin | $310 | Exciting Enzymes
* Catherine Unsbee | $318 | Civic Engagement through Politicraft gameplay
* Valentine Walker | $4985 | Let's Get Ready for the Next Pandemic or Remote Learning Days!
* Dave Weber | $1900 | Giving STEM A Hand
* Carrie Webster, Jackson Suddarth, Teri Wilson, and Traci Verdery | $2500 | Door 1, Door 2, Door 3: A pretty "cool" project
Beyond the Box
Monies for this award are provided by the Shirk Family Foundation.
NOrmal Community HIgh SChool
Carrie Stevens, Liz Harris, Hilary Ruyle, Donald Whitman, Molly Stolfa, and Brock Keller | $10,000 | Outdoor Classroom
The grant funds will make it possible to create a dedicated outdoor classroom space for students that will tie into an existing project of “Nurturing Learning Through Nature”. Special and general education students across multiple disciplines (technology, math, science, agriculture, horticulture, and wood/metals) will work collaboratively to create
and implement the innovative outdoor learning environment. Real-life skills will be developed by the objectives provided to create the space such as: building the shed and garden bed(s), planting fruits, vegetables, and flowers; creating a natural pond and more.
Stevens is a first-year applicant to Beyond the Books and collaborated with the following educators to outline the goals and objectives of the submission: Liz Harris, Brock Keller, Hilary Ruyle, Molly Stolfa and Donald Whitman. With the collaboration between the educators and departments the goal is to create a space that can be used for up to 25
years with ongoing care and improvements that will continue to meet the needs of future students within each of the programs outlined.
