Family Trust grants will help add excitement to classrooms when students return from recent snow days. The grants were awarded Feb. 6 at a banquet at York Comprehensive High school cafeteria and included everything from learning economics and investing through a stock market game to teaching weightlifting to female students.
Family Trust gave out more than $10,000 in grants to 55 teachers in York County. For the second year, we gave thirty-two $250 grants to individuals and five $500 grants for collaborative projects. Extra credit was given for grants that included a financial element.
Students with the Culinary Arts program at the Floyd D. Johnson Technology Center, led by Chef Judy Brown, provided the meal that included grilled chicken with supreme sauce, apple sausage stuffed pork loin, rice pilaf, roast beef, vegetable medley, and peach cobbler.
"This is awesome," said Allison Tracy of Castle Heights Middle Schhol. She and JoAnn Herron won a collaborative grant that will help them teach community skills to special needs students. "We can do so much more with the kids now."
They plan to have the students create a potato bar for teachers as a fundraiser. Students will plan the project, shop for ingredients and learn food prep.
Katie Sturgill of Cotton Belt Elementary in York will use her grant to buy books on butterflies and frogs to teach life cycles and habitat. "I'll be able to use them again and again," she said.
Pamela Brantley’s grant “The Reading for Fun Club” will teach pre-K and kindergarten students at Freedom Montessori how to choose and read unique books, and to even write their own. “This project is necessary to teach students to love reading at an early age and to compete with today’s technology and media influence,” she wrote in her project outline.
Other winners are:
Clover
Betsy Eaton, Melissa George, LaDawn Schifferli; Larne Elementary School
Kay Wessinger, Bethel Elementary School
Laura Antinoro, Special Services- DRC
Lesli Ann J. Howell, Clover Middle School
Rebecca Hester, Crowders Creek Elementary
Fort Mill
Caroline C. Ford, Fort Mill Middle School
Erin Owens, Riverview Elementary
Rock Hill
Casey Davis, Rosewood Elementary School
Jennifer Greene, Saluda Trail Middle School
Janice Groves, Phoenix Academy
Kelli Passmore, Northside Elementary School of the Arts
Meghan Switzer, Sunset Park Center for Accelerated Studies
Sherilynn Watts, The Children's School
Pamela Brantley,Freedom Montessori
Susan Reichelt, Winthrop University
York
Ashley Yon, Harold C. Johnson Elementary
Audrey Allan, Hunter Street Elementary School
Kathleen Mills, Harold C. Johnson Elementary
Kathy Blackwelder, Jefferson Elementary School
Katie Sturgill, Cotton Belt Elementary School
Leesa Parker, Hunter Street Elementary
Lesley A Reel, York Comprehensive High School
Margaret McFadden, York Middle School
Nicole Prell, York Middle School
Robin Clinton, York Middle School
Stacey Rothaupt, Hunter Street Elementary School
Tracy Warren, Joey Moore, Andrew Dean; York Comprehensive High School
Wendy Goss, Jefferson Elementary School
Wendy Wingard-Gay, Jefferson Elementary School
Anne Royal Witte, York Middle School
Delia Parker, York Intermediate School
Collaborative grant winners include:
Charlene Crocker, Gail Lee, David Norton, Kela Stewart, and Deb Wybenga
Jo Ann Herron and Alison Tracy
Lindsey Derr, Leslie Gaston, Kelly Messer, and Lindsay Rowe
Laura Antinoro, Shannon Clayton, Lesli Ann J. Howell, Heather Parker, and Jennifer Vickery
Tracy Craven, Lynn Hayes, and Suzanne Moore
Jennifer Greene of Saluda Trail Middle School won her school the Phyllis Paden-Adams prize of $250 for her grant, “Simply Claymation.” Students will use technology to create story boards and voice recordings for folktales. The award honors Paden-Adams, a member of the Family Trust School Advisory Committee and a first-grade teacher who retired after 32 years.
Since the Family Trust Teacher Grant program was established 14 years ago, more than $80,000 has been awarded to over 300 educators in York County.
“I want to thank Family Trust for its long-term contribution, not just for the grants but for the Youth Advisory Board and financial planning for teachers,” said Dr. Vernon Prosser, superintendent for the York School District. “We encourage our folks to make a difference and Family Trust truly makes a difference in our community.”
Clover School District
Fort Mill School District
Rock Hill School District
York School District