We awarded the 60th Public School Proud Grant today to Krystine Reavis from Jane Addams Elementary! Krystine received $666.93 for her proposal, “Pioneering STEAM Excellence.” She plans to purchase makerspace task cards, a math dice board, dominoes, road building sets, gears, and card games that will be used by 230 students. In the application, she wrote, “Funding for Pioneering STEAM Excellence will provide students with hands-on, immersive materials that bring STEAM concepts to life. Each element of the program is designed to engage students directly, allowing them to learn by doing, exploring, and creating. Through these experiences, students will build resilience, collaboration, and critical thinking—skills essential for the future. In addition to core STEM activities, arts integration will enhance creativity and broaden understanding. Materials like Pattern Play allow students to see the artistic aspects of STEAM, merging logic with creativity to develop well-rounded skills.” Thank you, First International Bank & Trust, for supporting projects that give students hands-on opportunities like this! (fb)

Becky Whitlock from Community Campus received the 59th Public School Proud Grant! Becky will use $4,316.85 for her proposal, “Career Exploration and Assessment Lab.” She plans to create an employment-based lab that will use more than 40 job training tasks to teach students vocational skills. In the proposal, she wrote, “This project would allow staff to set up an employment-based lab used to expose young-adult learners to a broad range of hands-on, generalizable work skills. Participants would clock in and ‘go to work,’ exploring jobs that are similar to those at our community-based job sites. We will have individual workstations in the fields of Construction, Industrial, Consumer Services, and Processing Production. Activities will include, but are not limited to, kitchen clean-up, food preparation, food measurement, housekeeping, custodial work, visual perception, sorting and assembly, identification and filing. Because this population is so diverse in cognitive, medical, and personal care needs, they are often unable to explore multiple job opportunities and receive skills training. This lab would bring the experiences to the students and allow staff to adjust and differentiate to accommodate individual needs.” Thank you, Mary Chilton DAR Foundation, for supporting this innovative project that will help young adults with disabilities be better prepared for future employment and independent life! (fb)