Naugatuck Education Foundation Awards Five Grants

The Naugatuck Education Foundation held a reception at the on Monday, April 9, 2012 to recognize the recipients of their first round of grant funding. The board of directors graciously invited the faculty and staff of the district schools to attend to help honor their coworkers and many teachers, adminstrators, parents and even students were in attendance. Each of the five recipients received five hundred dollars in grant money to finance their original idea.

The first grant was awarded to Stephanie Collela, a third grade teacher at Western School, who recently directed . "Can You Hear Us Now? Sensational Sound for Young Actors" was the clever title of her project. The grant money will be used to purchase an on-stage sound monitor and a mixer to be used in conjunction with the body microphones that they have already purchased in future musical productions. Ms. Collela mentioned that past shows have included only third and fourth grade students due to cast size restraints; she now plans to train second graders to use the equipment this spring so that they will be ready to help out with next year's musical.

"Get Smart, Get Fit & Go Green with Earthbox" was submitted by Jim Isaacson, a science teacher at Naugatuck High School. Mr. Isaacson will use the grant money to purchase 10 indoor mobile garden systems to use with his students. The mobility of the gardens will allow them to be moved to the planned greenhouse at NHS.

Gina Kotsaftis, the reading consultant at Salem School, called her submission "Reading Electrified." She will purchase two e-readers with cases and styluses to use with some of her third and fourth grade students during the lunch club she hosts four time each week. The reading program she will use is Raz-kids.com.

"eReading for All" was the title of the grant submitted by Deborah Coretto, a librarian/media specialist at Naugatuck High School. Ms. Coretto will purchase four e-readers and e-books for students who will experiment with downloading written material. These will work well with the library management system in use at the high school.

The final grant awarded was to the Cross Street Science Department for their project "Harvesting Success." Accepted by Principal Christopher Montini and Food Service Head Kate Murphy and embraced by all the science teachers, the grant will allow fifth and sixth grade students to plant and harvest an outdoor vegetable garden. The sustainable school garden of spinach, green beans, and lettuce will help students learn "seed to table" horticulture skills, problem solving and respect.

In his opening remarks, Vice Chairperson Bill Brown reiterated that the purpose of the grants is to encourage teachers to start an innovative and creative project in the hopes that others would help them take it to the next level, whether it be the BOE or another grant. NEF Board Member Gina Allison mentioned to me how successful the had been in raising funds for the grants.

Chairperson Joan Doback shared with me that in its first year the foundation has had a learning curve; changes have already been made to their brochure to reflect some of what the committee has learned. Board members charged the grant recipients to talk up the foundation to other staff members and "get the word out."

The Naugatuck Education Foundation
PO Box 1717
Naugatuck CT 06770
naugatuckeducationfoundation@gmail.com
facebook.com/NaugatuckEducationFoundation