Several teachers from around the county received a pleasant surprise Tuesday morning when the Mini Grant Prize Patrol stopped by to award teachers with varying amounts of money.
Armed with balloons and checks, representatives from GEAR UP (Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs) The Kinston/Lenoir County Chamber of Commerce and the Lenoir County Education Foundation awarded grants to 24 teachers at nine different schools.
Laura Lee Sylvester, chamber president, said money for the grants was raised by the Education Foundation through a musical production show and adult spelling bee. She said $10,000 was raised and given out.
Sylvester said the money is always a big help to educators.
“Sometimes budgets are tough and years are difficult and teachers have wonderful ideas that they or the school system cannot fund. That’s where the Education foundation steps in, to help them with these additional projects,” she said.
She said teachers go through a typical grant application process and then are chosen by a selection committee. This year, there were 64 applications and 24 grants awarded.
At Moss Hill Elementary School, there were six grant winners; among them were first grade teachers Anna King, Katie Wade, Melissa Lynch and Wendy Sutton, who were awarded $399.
King said the money is going to be used to purchase reading games that will be played in small groups.
“These will help to enrich our instruction and help students with their reading,” she said.
King said she, along with her fellow teachers, had to research and decide how the money could be used and how to relate it to the current curriculum as part of writing the grant.
Sutton said she was excited to receive the money.
“We think it’s a wonderful opportunity for our school to receive money so that we can implement new ideas,” she said.
Foundation member Ashley Pierce-Chadwick said she enjoyed being a part of giving out the grants.
“It’s great to see these teachers who have wonderful ideas to enhance students’ lives. Because they did all of this work, these students lives are going to be touched,” she said.
Noah Clark can be reached at 252-559-1073 or Noah.Clark@Kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter at @nclark763.
Breakout Box
Grant winner and amounts
Woodington Middle School
Yvonne Hardy $500
South Lenoir High School
Timila Lane $500
Jean Smith $498
Pink Hill Elementary School
Julie Rouse $329
Helen Lewis $500
Annette Huffman $500
Amy Taylor and Chris Radford $495
Kelly Bluhm $500
Jami Finch, Brenda Griffin, Walter Upthegrove $478.60
Moss Hill Elementary School
Anna King, Katie Wade, Melissa Lynch, Wendy Sutton $399
Lindsay Howard and Sarah Hughes $500
Mandy Henderson $257.39
Teresa Kennedy, Melody Vogt, Donna Casad, Valerie Jones $241.40
Allison Mittman $399
Donna Elmore Smith $285.41
Banks Elementary School
Karen Hall $100
Kellan Bryant $450
North Lenoir High School
Kim Hipkiss $485
Teresa Eason $500
Contentnea-Savannah K-8 School
Mary Riddick $400
Amanda Price & Lynn Morris $500
Northeast Elementary School
Cheryl McLain $500
Southeast Elementaty
Colleen Alfonso and Crystal Taylor $500
Janet Byrns and Christina Clark-Zoltek $487.60