Worth Nearly $40,000 to Fund Innovative Programs at Oregon Schools
Annual program awards grants up to $1,000 to K-12 educators in SELCO communities; 13 programs at 10 Central Oregon schools among grant recipients
SELCO Community Credit Union has awarded 42 grants totaling $39,309 to teachers across Oregon as part of its annual SPARK! Creative Learning Grants program, which provides funding for innovative educational and extracurricular programs. The program awards grants of as much as $1,000 to K-12 educators across the 26 Oregon counties that SELCO serves.
This year’s SPARK! Creative Learning Grants include funding for a vast range of programs and projects, including Lego robotics and STEM stations in Benton County, a multi-sensory obstacle course in Deschutes County, and a school garden in Lane County. The 2017 Central Oregon winners include:
Improving Accuracy and Efficiency of Titration Experiments — Casie Bullock of Bend High School
Literacy for All — Heather Petersen of Ridgeview High School
Watering Can Plant Sale Program — Amy Anderson of Rimrock Expeditionary Alternative Learning Middle School
Social Emotional Learning Supports — Lindsey Manitsas of Bear Creek Elementary School
Keeping Culinary Cool — Lisa Meredith of High Desert Middle School
Multi-sensory Obstacle Course — Denise Horton of Rosland Elementary School
Music Room Make Over — Leslie Johns of La Pine Elementary School
Sensory and Motor Integration — Cari Fike of La Pine Elementary School
Career Transition Program — Amber Downing of La Pine High School
Smoothie Station — Emily Jones of St. Thomas Academy
Café and School Store Business Venture — Colleen Kane of St. Thomas Academy
STEM for the Earliest Learners — Andrea Gibson of St. Thomas Academy
Butterfly Bonanza — Ryan Shaffer of Ponderosa Elementary School
SPARK! Creative Learning Grants support educators who have creative classroom ideas, but who lack the funds needed to purchase materials to get those projects off the ground. The 42 winners were chosen by a SELCO selection committee from among 111 applicants.
With the SPARK! Grants, SELCO hopes to encourage innovative projects that will have the largest possible impact on students and leave a lasting impression.
“Once again, we saw an impressive array of creative projects and programs,” said Laura Illig, SELCO’s vice president of marketing. “Each year, SELCO’s selection committee is heartened by these educators’ commitments to strengthening the learning experience for their students. By bringing passion and new ways of thinking to their classrooms, educators are exciting their students’ curiosity and inspiring the love of learning for years to come. We’re proud to support these efforts.”
For more information on SELCO Community Credit Union’s SPARK! Creative Learning Grants, visit www.selco.org/community-giving/spark-creative-learning-grants.
About SELCO Community Credit Union:
Founded 81 years ago by a group of fiscally minded teachers, Eugene-based SELCO Community Credit Union now serves more than 120,000 members as the third largest Oregon-based credit union. A not-for-profit, federally insured, member-driven financial cooperative with more than $1.3 billion in assets, SELCO is able to provide its member-owners with exceptional rates and low fees on a full range of financial products and services, including banking, mortgages, personal and business loans, investments, and insurance. Membership is open to anyone who lives or works in the 26 Oregon counties SELCO serves. For more information, or to become a member today, stop by one of SELCO’s 15 branches, call 800-445-4483, or visit selco.org.
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