GRANTS
FOR EXTRAORDINARY PROGRAMS
THAT MAKE A DIFFERENCE!
The
purpose of the Grants Program is to reward teachers
and the school district by funding creative
and innovative projects that enrich standard
curriculum and directly enhance educational
opportunities for a significant number of students.
Funds for grants are raised through the Foundation's
Annual Fund Campaign,
BRAVO event, Piazza
program, and designated gifts for specific programs.
Any staff member in the Bexley City Schools
is eligible to apply.
Since
the Foundation was established in 1983 two major
capital campaigns have successfully raised $2,750,000
for improvements in the technology curriculum
and the performing arts:
$750,000
Five
Phase Technology Program. Money raised
from this capital campaign, which began
in 1995 and concluded in 2000, allowed the
district to update technology in all the
school buildings. Infrastructure wiring,
computers, and software were part of this
grant.
$2.1
million
Campaign
for the Performing Arts. Money raised
from this capital campaign, which began
in 2001 and pledge collections will be completed
in 2006, provided support to the district
for a renovation/new construction project
that completely renovated the Bexley High
School Theatre, and renovated the Cassingham
Theatre and performance space at Maryland
Elementary School. A grant for $2 million
was awarded and the Foundation has fulfilled
its obligation to the school district. Additional
gifts and contributions to the "Buy
A Seat" program will fund the Foundation's
newly created Arts Endowment Fund that will
provide grant support for ongoing arts programming
needs.
to
the generosity of many alumni, faculty, parents,
and friends, The Foundation has been able since
1983 to award more than $1 million for classroom
and district-wide grants. In addition to the
classroom grants, the Foundation, working in
partnership with the school district, has awarded
two Impact Grants. These awards are for amounts
of $50,000 or more and, as the name implies,
the program must have a major impact on the
curriculum and benefit a significant number
of students.
The
first Impact Grant, a two-year, $120,000 commitment
by The Foundation, underwrote a Global Technology
Lab. The lab opened in January 2007 to capacity
enrollment. In the lab, students work in teams
on problem-solving, long-range planning and
collaboration as they develop projects in robotics,
alternative energies, rocketry, digital manufacturing,
engineering, intelligent systems and other areas.
This winter, Bexley High School's technology
education program was named "Program of
the Year" by the International Technology
Education Association, thanks to the curriculum
designed by teacher David Valentine using the
new technology lab.
In April of 2008, The Foundation partnered with
the school district to award its second IMPACT
grant, $376,050 for Smart Solutions. Thanks
to the vision and persistence of technology
director Paul Ross and school principals, this
grant will provide for the purchase and installation
of SmartBoard interactive whiteboards in all
Bexley classrooms for the opening of school
in the fall. The school district will partner
in this effort and cover the cost of continuous
teacher training and other items essential to
support SmartBoard use.
Below
is a listing of past and current programs that
have received grant support from the Foundation:
PERFORMING
ARTS
•
Schottenstein
Theatre sound upgrades and high
quality video projector
•
String
clinician week
•
Bexley
Storytelling Project
•
Renovation
of Cassingham and Bexley High
School Theatres and performance
space at Maryland Elementary
•
Drama
workshops
•
Cincinnati
Shakespeare Festival troupe
visit
•
Keyboard
Lab
•
"Black
Box" Theatre Studio
•
Piano
for Vocal Music Classroom
VISUAL
ARTS
•
Daniel
Pink lecture on "Creativity
and its Prominence in the 21st
Century"
•
Photography
equipment
•
Exhibition
Display Boards
•
Wax
Casting / Sculpture
•
Elementary
Family Arts Night
HEALTH
AND FITNESS
•
Step
Aerobics, CPR, Pedometers
•
Learning
to be Fit
•
Special
flooring for the Fitness Center
•
Mark
Your Turf project
•
Cardio
Equipment for Curriculum Enhancement
•
Flooring
for New Fitness Center
LITERATURE
•
Books
on CD for Battle of the Books
•
Literature
Circles
•
Book
Clubs
•
Author
in Residence Writing Program
•
Literary
Arts Magazine
•
Books
on CD
•
Reading
programs
SCIENCE
•
WeatherBug
Station
•
Labquest
Probes and Sensors
•
Rain
Forest projects
•
Environmental
studies
•
LabPro
Technology
•
Biocam
Traveling Microscope
•
Star
Lab
•
High
powered microscopes
•
Scientist
in Residence Program
•
AP
Chemistry lab equipment
•
AP
Physics lab equipment
HISTORY
•
Iraq
seminar series
•
Bexley
Landmarks
•
Holocaust
programs
•
Prehistoric
and Animal Artifacts
•
International,
Multicultural Education
TECHNOLOGY
•
Alpha
Smart Keyboards
•
Professional
Development
•
Mapping
skills
•
Mobile
Wireless Laptop Labs
•
Graphing
Calculators
•
Electronic
Portfolio Project
•
Video
Production equipment
•
SMARTBoards
•
Document
Cameras
•
InteGREAT
Classrooms
•
Global
Technology Instructional Suite
program
•
Equipment
for closed-circuit TV studios
•
Foreign
Language Classroom Lab Station
& SMARTBoards
Bexley
Educator of the Year Award
(2007) recipient Sonja Hutchison
OTHER
•
Visit
from residents of Andros Island,
Bahamas
•
Electronic
reference books for school libraries
•
Spanish
software and materials
•
Spanish
via closed circuit TV
•
Speech/Language
Therapy software
•
Occupational
Therapy equipment
•
Bexley
Educator of the Year Award (Photo)
•
Leadership
Program
•
Service
Learning Programs
•
Development
of College Counseling Initiative
•
Youth
Mentoring Program
•
Bexley
Operation Respect
MATHEMATICS
•
Senteo
interactive response systems
for immediate assessment
