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In December of 2015 and January of 2016, the Nebo Education Foundation gave a total of 14 grants to various schools within Nebo School District to aid teachers in their efforts to provide students with the best education possible. Nebo Education Foundation board members meet each month to review and award grant requests, consider fundraising avenues and discuss other items that advance the educational opportunities for Nebo School District students. The Nebo Education Foundation functions through generous donations made by individuals and businesses.
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“It is a pleasure to receive the grant applications and see how remarkable and creative the Nebo District teachers are,” said Foundation President Kristina Christensen. “The Nebo Education Foundation facilitates these grant monies to help teachers realize their ideas and students’ potential. As a foundation, we get to see a glimpse at how well our teachers are instructing our students. Our teachers are truly talented and utilize every penny. They do such a great job!”
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Congratulations to the following teachers that continue to inspire the minds of students:
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December 2015rrSalem Junior High School – Jordan Blanchard
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Salem Junior High will be using its grant money to finish a project to improve athletic and physical education facilities at the school. The money will specifically help finish a discus ring by purchasing the four-piece aluminum ring, which will be mounted into the already-constructed concrete pad. “We will now have a competition-level training area for our track and field team to practice discus,” Blanchard said.
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Oakridge School – Mark Jones
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Oakridge School will use its grant for purchasing adaptive strollers for its students. Many students at Oakridge are able to walk but have challenges that limit their ability to walk longer distances. Having adaptive strollers allows these students to remain with their class when they become fatigued or experience pain. The strollers will be used for everything from big events like field trips to small events like walks to the park.
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Riverview Elementary School – Lesa Hyer
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Riverview Elementary School teacher Lesa Hyer will use her grant to buy four Chromebooks for her classroom. “I have had two student computers in my classroom to use in centers for the past few years,” Hyer said. With the Chromebooks, “Students will have reliable, efficient technology in the comfort of our classroom. This is especially important for students without technology at home.”
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Salem Elementary School – Pam Lynn
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Salem Elementary teacher Pam Lynn will also use her grant to purchase a set of Chromebooks. “The Chromebook grant means a lot to our third-graders and teachers. We are so excited to be able to have a class set of Chromebooks. The students cheered when they realized that everyone can get on their own Chromebook at the same time,” she said.
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Rees Elementary School – Nate Wright, Jennifer James and Tim Mendenhall
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Ress Elementary’s three sixth-grade teachers will use their grant to take students to Salem Pond where they will learn about the microorganisms living in the pond as well as test water quality.
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Mt. Loafer Elementary School – Rhonda Brady
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Mt. Loafer Elementary will use its grant to buy seven new sets of books for its leveled reading library. “We were in desperate need of updating titles so that the students will continue to be excited about what we are reading in class,” Brady said.
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Mapleton Elementary School – Christine Jones
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Mapleton Elementary’s grant will be used for a Fountas and Pinnell Leveled Literacy System, which includes 110 sets of books, Levels A-J, for the school’s Guided Reading instruction in kindergarten and first and second grades. “These books are perfect for engaging pre-emergent and emergent readers who are just beginning their journey on the road to becoming life-long lovers of reading,” Jones said.
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January 2016
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Goshen Elementary School – Krista Openshaw
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This grant will go to purchase Spanish chapter books for the school’s library. Krista Openshaw said,
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“Our sixth-grade team this year has five ESL students that speak very little to no English. I noticed that the school has lots of Spanish picture books but no chapter books for our older students to enjoy.
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Santaquin Elementary School – Brian Griffith, Annalyn Greer, Andrew Mecham and Judy Rawle
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Santaquin Elementary’s grant will be used to purchase Chromebooks for several classrooms, giving more students access to the technology.
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Spring Lake Elementary School – Ien Richins
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Spring Lake Elementary’s grant will be used to purchase Illustrated Thesauruses. Teacher Ien Richins said, “The fifth- and sixth-grade students are going to thoroughly enjoy using them to enhance their writing and vocabulary building processes.”
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Barnett Elementary School – Trenya Peterson
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This grant will be used to purchase a new iPad and provide a variety of applications to help students with speech therapy. “It’s going to be a real game-changer for my students with language disorders, especially those struggling with verbs and prepositions. The technology will be used to deliver and manage speech-language therapy and instruction for students in preschool through sixth grade,” said teacher Trenya Peterson.
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Taylor Elementary School – Mindy Sumens
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“Our kindergarten students are thrilled to begin our adventure into the brain-based, multi-modal world of Secret Stories” using this grant, said Mindy Sumens. “The stories and the learning cards are going to be used to connect our young learners through visual, auditory, and kinesthetic means in the acquisition of new reading and writing skills.”
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Payson High School – Clint Peery
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This grant will help support the broadcasting program at Payson High. The school’s more than 125 broadcasting students have produced more than 75 live broadcasts so far this year and the grant will help them continue to share the news of Payson High.
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Goshen Elementary School – Joanie Burningham
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This grant will be used by teacher Joanie Burningham to purchase Chromebooks for her second-grade class to enhance their learning through various reading, math and science programs.
