Greater Greer Education Foundation Presents Thousands In Grants

The Greater Greer Education Foundation presented $16,500 in grant money to 14 school and community projects in Greenville and Spartanburg counties at a news conference Jan. 31 at the Greater Greer Chamber of Commerce.

The grants, made possible by funds from the September 2012 Education Gala, ranged from $450 to $1,500.

Margaret Burch, foundation chairman, commented that each year the foundation has been able to help teachers and students with more funding than the year before.  “We are grateful for the support of the citizens and business community who have embraced our vision and joined us in enhancing educational opportunities in the Greater Greer Area,” she said.

David Dolge, chairman of the board’s Grants Committee, told those present: 

“After hearing how the grant money will be used, I hope you are impressed with what schools are trying to do. This is such a wonderful experience. This is our purpose.”

The 2013 grants were awarded to:

BYRNES HIGH SCHOOL/submitted by DEBORAH HOLCOMBE, department chair

The grant will provide partial funding for the Lifepoint 5K Run in Charleston as an incentive for retention and commitment to the school’s FIGHT program (fight against childhood obesity.) Funding will allow expansion of the program to include a component for nutritional education, counseling and cooking classes. $1,500

D.R. HILL MIDDLE SCHOOL/ submitted by STACY SYMBORSKI, media specialist

The Keeping It REAL program will provide funding to DR Hill Middle School’s media center for the purchase of new biographical and autobiographical resources.  Students will complete a book project using the new titles in order to improve their ability to analyze more complex, nonfiction texts.  This will help prepare our students for Common Core learning standards while also providing them with life stories that can serve as an inspiration.  $1,500

GREER HIGH SCHOOL/ submitted by APRIL McVICKER, math deparment chair

The grant will provide funding for TI-84 graphing calculators to help students become more efficient with technology. The calculators will be for classroom use and the soon-to-be-developed math hands-on lab with manipulatives for Albegra I. $1,500

GREER MIDDLE IB SCHOOL/ submitted by ALLISON ROSEMOND, career specialist

To increase students’ knowledge of the aviation industry, the grant will provide funding for tours of the Boeing plant in North Charleston, the Downtown Airport in Greenville and Donaldson Career Center’s Aircraft Maintenance program. This will allow them to experience a day in the aviation industry, which, according to news articles, is experiencing a shortage of available personnel. $1,500

GREER MIDDLE SCHOOL/ submitted by SERENA COX, seventh-grade science teacher

The grant will provide funding for two Wolfe DigiVu CM 1.3 Microscopes for the 7^th grade Science Department. Science standards require the use and understanding of scientific instruments. The purchase will make it more feasible for teachers to demonstrate and model the microscope parts and their functions. $1,500

MIDDLE TYGER COMMUNITY CENTER/ submitted by WANDA L. FOWLER, executive director

The grant will be used to support the center’s programs for low- to moderate-income populations, including Family Literacy Program, GED classes and Work Keys instruction. $1,500

SKYLAND ELEMENTARY/ submitted by KENNA BRANNON, instructional coach

The grant will fund the school’s reading collection to include leveled readers on a variety of topics that can be used by students reading below and above grade level. The school plans to purchase 30 titles of above grade level readers and 30 titles of below grade level readers. $1,500

TIGERVILLE ELEMENTARY/ submitted by C. DIANE JACKSON, principal

The grant will fund the purchase of six Nooks and electronic nonfiction and fiction books at various readinglevels for all students. These are books that students will enjoy, thus enhancing their desire to read more and motivating struggling readers to want to read. The purchase of e-books will increase the number of leveled readers available to all students. $1,500

JUNIOR LEADERSHIP GREER – Continuing support -- $1,500

BROOK GLENN ELEMENTARY/ submitted by MAGGIE BURDICK, first-grade teacher

The grant will fund a set of books to be used in the school’s Balanced Literacy program, where students are put into small reading groups based on their abilities. The books will be used with the small groups so that all students can be reading about the same social studies topic. $700

CREATIVE ADVANCEMENT CENTER/ submitted by DANIEL DUDLEY, director

The grant will help support the center’s after-school scholastic and creative activities for students in grades K-12. $700

CRESTVIEW ELEMENTARY/ submitted by AMY MURPHY, reading interventionist

The grant will be used to purchase alphabet manipulative boards to allow students to become more engaged in the process of learning letters and building words. These boards change the lesson format from teacher-directed or teacher-modeled to hands-on involvement. $700

DUNBAR CDC/ submitted by KELLY B. EDWARDS, 4K teacher

The grant will fund the purchase of a projector, iPad and applications to teach young children the educational value of technology through daily use in the classroom. $450

MOUNTAIN VIEW ELEMENTARY/ submitted by JODY DILL, special education resource teacher

The grant will be used to purchase a classroom license for the IXL program, which will allow special needs students to be specifically taught the South Carolina math standards in a visual way that uses the left and right brain, thus helping them excel in math. $450