Teachers and students across Collier County are enjoying life-changing learning experiences through classroom grants that have been funded from generous donors just this school year! On Classroom Grant
Delivery Day this school year, Champions For Learning awarded a record-breaking 280 grant checks that totaled $166,288 to 55 schools in Collier County. These checks provided teachers with the funds needed to implement creative and innovative learning experiences for their students.
Since Classroom Grant Delivery Day in October, even more classroom grants have been funded and various classroom have already received their supplies to fulfill their grant request.
Ms. Marks, a fourth-grade language arts teacher at Veterans Memorial Elementary, received a subscription to four different magazines for kids, which she previews with her students each month to engage them with the content.
“We have received two issues of each of our four magazines so far. We will continue to get new issues throughout the rest of the school year. The kids absolutely love reading the magazines. They get so excited when I bring in a new issue. They love reading them together and discussing the different topics. They also love finishing their work a little early so they can go over and check out a magazine,” said Marks.
Marks says these magazines keep students up to date on current events. For students who may be too overwhelmed to choose a large novel to read, they can engage with shorter articles, which may spark their interest and lead them to seek out books on the same topic.
Ms. Cholka’s class, a special needs class at Lely High, is also benefiting from this school years classroom grants. The funding this class received has helped support rewarding student success in Project SEARCH. Project SEARCH is an internship program at NCH Baker Hospital for students with intellectual disabilities between the ages of 18-22. Students participate in three unpaid internships in different departments of the hospital throughout the school year. The goals of the program are for students to explore a variety of career paths, learn marketable job skills, and obtain meaningful employment either at NCH or within the community by the end of the year.
This funded classroom grant allows for Ms. Cholka to provided consistent rewards to her students for reaching their employment goals at the internship. This helps take the place of a paycheck and gives students incentive to continue to work hard.
“The Perna-Rose Foundation for Hope has generously funded our grant request two years in a row, and we are so thankful! This has allowed us to continue our reward program by providing gift cards for our
weekly raffles. The students get so excited when they win a gift card, which in turn motivates them to do their best. We truly appreciate your support of the Project SEARCH program at NCH Baker Hospital,” said Cholka.
Much like the classroom grant projects listed above, there are still plenty of grants waiting to be funded by generous community members. By funding a classroom grant, you are helping provide a life-changing learning experience for multiple students within Collier County.
Click HERE to view the classroom grants that still need funding for this school year.