Every year, during the Convocation ceremonies at NEISD, the North East Educational Foundation (NEEF) brings joy and excitement to teachers by surprising them with an Innovative grant check. It’s a heartwarming moment to witness some teachers getting emotional as their wish for their class is granted. Esther Guerra from Johnson High School was one of the lucky recipients of a grant. Her Future Innovative Filmmakers Program grant received a check for $11,158.34. With her grant funds, students will learn the technical aspects of film/broadcast television production and how to use the appropriate standard film equipment.
The Madison Cluster grant winner was Jamie Jennings from Wood Middle School. Jamie and Principal Henze received a $4,770.90 check for her Wrangler eSports grant. With the funds, Ms. Jennings will purchase popular games encouraging teamwork, communication, and critical thinking while competing in tournaments. Innovative grants from NEEF support instructional methods that build STEM skills, language and literacy, and creative expression, all necessary to meet and surpass learning milestones. Redland Oaks Elementary teacher Shannon Perkins applied for and received $5,817.21 for her Library Stations that Inspire Early Childhood Creations grant, which addresses those needs. And at the STEM Academy at Lee High School, Director Jennifer Jensen and Assistant Director Lane Smiley received a whopping $28,320 for the STEM Advanced Research Lab. Lane will purchase research-grade equipment, allowing students to conduct actual research that will impact our community.
But the innovative grants didn’t stop there. At the spirited Roosevelt cluster, NEEF Executive Director Katherine Sanchez-Rocha surprised Sunni Crumrine, a special education teacher at Royal Ridge Elementary, with a NEEF Innovative grant check for $4,000 for the Exploring our Future Grant. With these funds, she plans to acquire nonfiction books that inspire students to explore career options available through NEISD’s magnet programs. And at Reagan High School, the NEISD’s Director of Army Instruction, COL LaChance, and LTC Chad Livingston were awarded $3,895.00 to start an educational drone program. These drones are flown either by manual remote or via coding, thus furthering students’ coding skills.
These grants were vetted by your school Principals and the winners were selected by NEEF Board members, some of which are former educators. Their tireless volunteerism has helped make it possible to provide these fantastic grant opportunities through our fundraisers. If you want to support innovative grants like these, please donate to NEEF or participate in two of our upcoming fundraising events, the Big Give starts on September 20th at 6:00 pm and runs for 24 hours, and our annual NEEF Golf Tournament. For more information check it out on our events page on https://northeastfoundation.org/events/
We can’t wait to see the positive impact these grants will have on your students.
