GREENFIELD — From toy kitchens for Greenfield-Central’s youngest students to advanced 3D printing for teens, grants from the Greenfield Central School Foundation are making it possible for local children to learn in innovative ways.
There were plenty of celebrations happening at the end of the school year as more than 70 teachers were notified that their requests for special purchases were approved by the GCSF, according to a press release from the school corporation.
Some students even cheered in the hallway, singing “Celebrate” and learning the word “grant” for the very first time.
“I am so popular this time of year,” chuckled Ginny Brown, executive director of the foundation.
She joyfully shared about her busy schedule in the final weeks of the school year, announcing new purchases that can be made thanks to the community support of the foundation. Some of the purchases came in time for the end of the school year while others will appear in classrooms this fall.
Educational Enrichment Grants, or E2 Grants, support programs at G-C schools by focusing on ways to enhance student learning and achievement. They are primarily funded by donations to the foundation’s annual Red Letter Gala, as well as the Bob Wortman Foundation.
Over the last 11 years, E2 grants have funded Chromebooks, iPads, STEM activities, reading programs, and even the exploration of post-secondary education and career opportunities.
This year was no exception, and Brown said she is impressed with the advancing level of learning and creativity that comes with the requests.
“It’s a way of getting something for your classroom that otherwise you can’t have,” Brown explained. “If the district can pay for it, the district’s going to pay for it. These are the extra special things that either the teacher’s going to have to pay for (themselves), or the classroom will have to do without. The Greenfield Central Education Foundation allows us to have extraordinary classroom experiences.”
At Weston Elementary School, for example, Amanda Rogers’ kindergarten students were in awe of a new play sink and stove set that arrived in May thanks to the E2 grant.
“I was excited!” “I was surprised!” a group of 6-year-olds shared as they eagerly showed off how the new play kitchen worked.
The classroom’s previous kitchen set was 12 years old, its knobs falling off and the basin cracked. It was definitely time to upgrade, Rogers said, and she wouldn’t have been able to without the foundation’s help. Children learn social and emotional skills by playing with the set cooperatively.
At Maxwell Intermediate School, teacher Jennifer Stewart was approved for Lego bricks for brainstorming creative ways to solve real-world problems with science, technology, engineering and math.
“We use Lego bricks to build a solid foundation, preparing students for more complex projects as they progress through intermediate STEM,” she said.
Lisa Sears is excited to be able to purchase a 3D printer for her Greenfield-Central High School art classes.
“They will get to learn 3D printing technologies,” Sears said. “Not all students get to use them by the time they get into high school, so we will be spreading the knowledge out a bit. There are endless ways that this will be used, with many levels of classes in the art department.”
High school students are also benefiting from Angela Crumlin’s “Shark Tank” project. The engineering course has students buying materials to build prototypes to solve problems and make inventions.
“This year, the problems ranged from … creating a dog’s water bowl that does not spill water, repurposing a treadmill to help train cross country runners, creating a portable shoe dryer, and developing a new ‘recipe’ for concrete,” Crumlin said. “Students are encouraged to take a risk and work on a project that they do not know all the answers to.”
The examples are seemingly endless. Book sets, sensory objects, art supplies, robotics, musical instruments and more were approved. One elementary class will be dissecting owl pellets, and some students will even be roller skating in gym class thanks to an E2 grant.
“Back when we first started, we gave out about $8,000 (in educational enrichment grants) because that’s all we had,” Brown said. “One year we bumped it to $20,000 and then $25,000. And now we’re at $50,000 in our budget– we’re really proud of that. And now, for years we’ve been able to fund 100% of the requests.”
Brown said it’s fun to be able to share the news of the grants to schools throughout Greenfield, and students are just as excited as their teachers. She said she’s impressed with how much children at the elementary level are learning through science and technology thanks to some of these enriching opportunities.
“If a kindergartener is learning how to code, imagine what they will create when they are adults,” she said. “They’re just starting so much younger, and when they’re younger it’s just easier to pick that stuff up. And the E2 grants are designed to be fun, so they don’t even realize, ‘Hey, I’m coding.’”
Superintendent Dr. Harold Olin said the foundation has provided hundreds of grants over the last decade, related to STEM, literacy, performing arts, personal finance, sensory activities and more.
“E2 grants from the school foundation have allowed teachers to dream big, and thus students have been able to experience things that the corporation cannot provide on Education fund dollars alone,” he said. “The foundation has been very helpful to our teachers and students, from preschool through high school.”
For more information on the Greenfield Central Education Foundation and the Red Letter Gala coming up Sept. 28, visit gcschoolfoundation.com.
