The Wayland Union Education Foundation has awarded more than $35,000 in Innovation Grants and National Teacher Conference Grants this year.
The following is a list of this year’s recipients:
• Marissa Hackbardt, Steeby Elementary and Amy Hielkema, Dorr Elementary were awarded funds to attend the National Council of Teaching Mathematics Conference.
• Kelly May, Baker Elementary, was awarded funds to attend the National Association for the Education of Young Children Conference.
• Christina Johnson, Steeby Elementary, was awarded funds to attend the NWEA Fusion Conference.
• Celeste Diehm, Baker Elementary, was awarded funds to host and provide books to parents during Parent Education Workshops.
• Jeff Braginton, High School and CCA, was awarded funds to purchase Apple TVs for classroom use.
• Kerry Oostdyk, CCA, was awarded funds to purchase the TI-Nspire App for her student iPads.
• Julia Goodyke, High School and CCA, was awarded funds to support a counseling group at the high school.
• Jill Terrell, Steeby Elementary, was awarded funds to purchase Osmo Genius kits
• Amy Huyck, High School, was awarded funds to purchase a Mac Mini, monitor and keyboard to establish a creation station in the High School Media Center.
• Greg Heisenfeldt, High School, was awarded funds to purchase equipment to enhance daily news video productions.
• Sue Boehm, Pine Street, was awarded funds to purchase equipment to enhance daily news video productions.
• Sue Salhaney, Middle School, was awarded two grants. One grant will allow Mrs. Salhaney to take her student council students to the Michigan Association of Student Councils Conference. The other grant will allow her to purchase a variety of materials to support CPR instruction in the middle school health class.
• Lisa Neely, Baker Elementary, was awarded funds to purchase STEM bins for her classroom.
• Barb Greenman, High School, was awarded funds to purchase kits to make paper with her Chemistry in the Community students.
• The third grade teaching staff at both Steeby and Dorr, were awarded a grant to take students to the Grand Rapids Public Museum to enhance instruction on Michigan history.
• The third grade teaching staff at Steeby was awarded a grant to purchase LEGO Education WeDo 2.0 kits for their classrooms.
• Aleisa Licari, Dorr Elementary, was awarded a grant to purchase Michigan History books and field guides.
• Sarah Rollandini, High School, was awarded a grant to bring in a deaf performer for her American Sign Language classes as well as the community as a whole.
• Rebecca Black, High School, was awarded funds to take her theater students to the META festival.
• Leigh Ann Hill and Diane Martus, High School, were awarded with funds to purchase a heart rate monitor system for their new fitness classes.
• Linda Bensyl, High School, was awarded with funds to purchase a Swivl Classroom recording system.
• Rick Brown, Middle School, was awarded with funds to purchase audio and video equipment for his classroom.
Wayland educators came up with some great ideas to enhance the educational experiences of students. As a WUEF board member it is exciting to see the enthusiasm of these people in their grant requests to add extra to the students learning opportunities. If the past is any indication many of these innovation grants will lead to district wide additions in the future. The foundation’s innovation grants are designed to provide seed money for new concepts.
Vote yes for the millage in November. YES, please……