The Westerville Education Foundation (WEF) today announced the funding of 16 grants for innovative programs to enhance education in Westerville City Schools. These grants invest $19,623 in projects that will reach thousands of students throughout the district. Additional support from Alliance Data also funded $3,730 in grants targeted toward after-school programs for English Learners. These grants are being provided separately from the WEF’s traditional Grants program.
WEF’s 2019 Traditional Fall Grant recipients are:
- Melissa Palmore, Westerville North High School, $500 for Social Skills for today and Tomorrow: Developing Social Skills and Life Skills for students with High Functioning Autism;
- Brandi Young, Westerville South High School, $2,835 for eBooks for (S)ELeaning;
- Kelly Ocheltree and Lexi Alza, Pointview Elementary School, $312.99 for Leadership Team Video Production;
- Anitra Simmons, Heritage Middle School, $1,500 for Husky Strong Boy’s Group;
- Anitra Simmons, Heritage Middle School, $1,500 for Husky Flexible Learning Space;
- Jenn Cole, Debbie Pellington, Kellie Sheely, Kristin Marks and Allina Green, Heritage Middle School, $1,313 for Understanding Global & Human Experiences Through Literature;
- Matt Fetrow, Heritage Middle School, $1,000 for Engineering and Design with Drones (this grant is contingent upon the teacher providing evidence of being compliant with School Board Policy);
- Rhonda Letterio and Megan Winand, Hawthorne, $992.94 for Hawthorne Hackers 3D;
- Amy Farris, Westerville Central High School, $1,694 for Project LIT;
- Tammy Richmond and Amy Van Sickle, $267 for Nature Hop Sensory Path;
- Christine Eshenbaugh, Wilder Elementary School, $127.88 for a pair of life sized communication boards on the playground to assist speech impaired students;
- Stephanie Young-Newberry, Whittier Elementary School, $1,450 for ROX at Whittier Elementary;
- Jeffrey Miltko, Emerson Elementary School, $450.65 for Emerson Mobile Makerspace;
- Lisa Huelskamp, Debbie Pellington and Chasity Laufman, Blendon, Genoa Heritage and Walnut Springs middle schools, $2,687.68 for Westerville City Schools 6th Grade Battle of the Books;
- Lane Halterman and Drew Farrell, secondary buildings, $1,462.16 for Mobile Podcasting Stations for Student Creation (This will be funded through the Dr. George Tombaugh Fund, for district educators who are completing college coursework in educational leadership and/or pursuing their advanced degree or certification in educational leadership/administration. Farrell is currently pursuing an administrative degree at Ohio Dominical University); and
- Dr. Scott Ebbrecht and Amy Anglin, the Academic Enrichment Center, $1,530 for De-stress and De-Compress Yoga for Students.
Grants funded by Alliance Data to support after-school programs for English Learners were awarded to:
- Amy Farris, Westerville Central High School, $780 to purchase downloadable e-audiobooks for English Language Learners for a Project LIT group she is forming. Project LIT seeks to empower students as readers and leaders in their school and community.
- Kim Glaser, Mark Twain Elementary School, $2,000 for connecting English as a Second Language students with carefully curated books that act like mirrors and windows – mirrors reflection the pupil’s linguistic and cultural backgrounds, and windows allowing them to access different viewpoints, cultural experience, genres and content that would otherwise be inaccessible.
- Sarah Flagler, Annehurst Elementary School, $950 for EL after school homework help, tutoring and computer time. Thirty-nine English Language Learners will be invited, as well as any ELLs who enroll or are identified during the duration of the after-school program.
The WEF will hold a second grant cycle this school year in the spring of 2020. Grant funding comes entirely from community contributions. Learn more at www.westervilleeducationfoundation.com.