Front: Mallory Hummer, Award Winner; Stephanie Schomber, Award Winner; Cristin Dietz, Award Winner; Heather Lunsford, Award Winner; Jennifer Fischer, Award Winner; Christelle Middendorf, DCRTF Member; Jamie Herbert, Greendale Middle School Principal; Shirley Bockock, DCRTF Member; Carol Bray, Award Winner; Jennifer Tucker, Award Winner; Melissa Weismiller, Award Winner; Karen Sue Harrill, Sunman-Dearborn School Nurse; Stacey Palmer, Lawrenceburg School Nurse; Jessica Peak, South Dearborn School Nurse; Cary Graham, St. Elizabeth-Dearborn and Betty Bourquein, DCRTF Director. (Provided Photo)
Dearborn County, IN — The Dearborn County Retired Teachers Foundation (DCRTF) has awarded seven grants to 10 teachers at Dearborn County schools.
DCRTF received help funding the grants from the Betty McLaughlin Endowment, Civista Bank, Huff Realty, the Knights of Columbus, and Maxwell Construction.
The funds will support teachers at East Central and Greendale middle schools, East Central and South Dearborn high schools, Sunman Elementary School, and St. Lawrence School.
The following are Educator Grant recipients:
Jennifer Fischer and Carol Bray, teachers at Greendale Middle School, requested a replacement picnic table for student use. The table would be used for tutoring in the fresh air and provide a change of scenery for classroom-bound students. This project was made possible by Maxwell Construction who said that as they were completing some renovations at the school, they would also provide the table.
Hayley Miller, East Central Middle School, requested funds for her Laugh and Learn program. The Laugh and Learn Curriculum will be used to teach social and emotional learning skills to students in the Calming Room who have emotional disabilities and/or autism spectrum disorders. The curriculum offers reading comprehension tests that can be used cross-curricular. Huff Realty graciously funded this project.
Justin D. Selmeyer, South Dearborn High School, wanted to add a keyboard to its Show Choir. Funded by CIVISTA and the Dearborn County Retired Teachers Foundation, Selmeyer was able to purchase a keyboard for use by the group to add different instrumentation and sound effects. Opening Knight has been representing Dearborn County for the past eighteen years in the competitive show choir circuit.
Heather Lunsford, Sunman Elementary School, hoped to expand the robotics club at her school. Sponsored by the Dearborn County Retired Teachers Foundation, this year and in past years, the program helps students learn to drive, program, and compete with robots. The program is especially beneficial for students who tend to have behavioral issues as it gives these students the confidence needed to “fit in.” with their team.
Melissa Weismiller, St. Lawrence School, introduced her students to Camp Read-a-Lot. Camp Read-a-Lot creates a camping atmosphere in the classroom to foster a love for reading. Second grade students pitch tents, make sit-upon, read with mini lanterns, sit around a campfire, and read, write, complete math activities and enjoy crafts and snacks. The camp is designed for the reluctant reader. This program was funded by the Knights of Columbus.
Christin Dietz, Mallory Hummer, and Stephanie Schomber, kindergarten teachers at Sunman Elementary School, planned The “Secret” Behind Reading program which was funded by the Betty McLaughlin Foundation. Secret Stories are designed to maintain the excitement of learning to read, especially for those students who are struggling or don’t seem to enjoy reading. The program encourages inventive spelling to give kindergarten students access to higher-level sounds in phonics once they are ready for them. It is a brain-based approach that transforms phonics skills that children have to learn “secrets” they want to know. The phonics rules are accompanied by a story to help the child make a pathway to their brain to remember when to use the skills.
Jennifer Tucker, English Teacher at East Central High School, wished to purchase microphones and the Mote: Fast, Friendly Voice Messaging program to give immediate feedback from the teacher to the students. This program can be used for vocabulary study, Remind Google Form Quizzes, Gmail and other forms of communication as it is integrated into Google Docs, Slides, Sheets, Forms, Classroom, and Gmail for easy recording and playback. The Dearborn County Retired Teacher Foundation will be providing the program and ten microphones for use with the program so that the entire English department at East Central High School has access to the system.
Applications for the grants are available to any teacher or administrator at Dearborn County schools and are available at the start of the second semester. Visit dearborncountyrta.org for more information.
The Dearborn County Retired Teachers Foundation has also expanded its giving to support school nurses in the Sunman-Dearborn, Lawrenceburg, and South Dearborn school corporations.
The foundation originally intended to give each corporation $500 for the school nurses to help students in need, but St. Elizabeth-Dearborn Hospital and Valley Utilities kicked in an additional $500 to each corporation so that the school nurses could purchase needed items such as clothing, toiletries and other basics.
Contributions can be sent to DCRTF, 300 Tiger Boulevard, Lawrenceburg, IN 47025.
All donations are tax-deductible.
