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http://thenewsdispatch.com/articles/2011/0...46729674571.txt

Local teachers share successes funded with foundation grants

Susan Bryant of St. Stanislaus presents Carrie Miller’s project “Living Social Studies” as Michigan City Education Foundation co-founder Mary Lou Linnen assists. Photo by Tim Moran
By Tim Moran
Staff Writer
Published: Thursday, May 12, 2011 5:45 PM CDT
MICHIGAN CITY - Nearly 50 teachers representing all 16 Michigan City elementary and middle schools showed their appreciation to the Michigan City Education Foundation for grants assisting classroom projects at a Wednesday evening reception at the Barker Mansion.

Some 20 years ago, the founders of the foundation set aside a permanent endowment fund that awards $11,000 to $12,000 in grants each year for teachers seeking help to fund classroom projects. This year, 60 grants totaling $11,210 were awarded to teachers from Barker, Elston, and Kreuger middle schools; Coolspring, Edgewood, Joy, Knapp, Lake Hills, Marsh, Niemann, Pine and Springfield elementary schools; as well as four parochial schools: Notre Dame, Queen of All Saints, St. Paul Lutheran and St. Stanislaus.

Nearly 2,000 area students were directly affected by at least one of the grants this year.

Each of the 44 teachers who received a grant from the foundation this year gave a brief description of the type of project created by the grant funding.

“The teachers do many interesting projects in their classrooms,” said Mary Lou Linnen, one of the founders of the Michigan City Education Foundation. “We visit every class we give grants to and see great results in their projects ... That is the most rewarding part of the job.”

Adam Goebel and Samantha Greenwood, teachers at Elston Middle School, were two of the teachers who expressed their gratitude to the foundation for helping them with projects they had planned.

Goebel, an eighth grade science teacher, applied for a grant for microscope parts.

“We’re working with the kids on proficiency so they can be proficient with microscopes when they get to high school,” he said, adding that the microscope slides will continue to be used “from year to year.”

Greenwood is an eighth grade social studies teacher at the school. Her class applied for funding for an atlas set.

“The kids used it to learn more about maps and geography,” she said. “It has worked great. They have done many projects with the set as well.”

Molly Sherrick, an eighth grade teacher at Barker Middle School, applied for a set of Rubik’s cubes.

“The kids were all excited and had a great time,” she said.

The success of the project was evident, as she informed the crowd that the cumulative score on an informational text test went from 47 to 70 percent after the unit in which the class used the cubes.

The endowment fund used to pay these grants are a part of the Unity Foundation, a group that supports all schools in La Porte County.

“We are always excited and amazed at what these teachers do with so little,” Unity Foundation of La Porte County President Maggi Spartz said. “This is a delightful event because it is so positive.”

Teachers have applied for grants that do not exceed $350 every September for the last 15 years. They are usually awarded in November and tend to last throughout the school year. Linnen said more grants than usual were requested and awarded this year.