Past Recipients
Education Enrichment Fund
Grant History
Stevens Point Area Public School District
2024-2025 Grant Recipients
Full Steam Ahead! - $900
The project goals are to expand our STEAM activities. Currently, we are trying to incorporate STEAM, especially into science with investigating, experimenting, and building. However, we’d like to carry this over into other content areas such as social studies, math, and ELA to help our student have more opportunities.
Be Kind! - $3,500
The children will dedicate their flags to a plethora of ways that they can exhibit kindness to their classmates, friends, family and the community. This project is innovative as it promotes kindness. Through literature, discussion and the creation of their flags, the students will tap into their intellectual and affective domains. This will enable the students to explore ways that they can be kind to others.
Cider Press & Apple Trees - $2,680
Boston School Forest always serves a snack to visiting students, which includes hot chocolate for the cold months and lemonade for September and May. By planting apple trees at BSF and purchasing a cider press, the 3rd graders could harvest apples during their fall field trip and press their own snack beverage!
Ocean Acidification - $1,625
The goal of this project is to deepen the student’s understanding of the chemical processes driving ocean acidification. Students will begin the multi-day project by learning about the ecological and economic importance of oysters. They will explore the life cycle of the oyster by observing live spat under a microscope followed by measuring the filtration rate of live adult oysters.
2023-2024 Grant Recipients
Holiday Open - Collaborative Mini Golf Course - Jennifer Bowling & Corey Opper - $1,000
The purpose of the Mini Golf Project is to connect learning to a collaborative multidisciplinary project that benefits students and teachers across the school. This project is innovative as it incorporates a wide range of disciplines. It allows students the opportunity to design, collaborate, communicate effectively across disciplines, and see a project through from start to finish.
Building Gratitude through Art - SPSP at the Sculpture Park - $3,500
Focusing on the positive, we will have the children reflect on how kindness has enhanced their lives. The students will make a flag that will adorn the pathways at the Sculpture Park. When classes visit the park, they will encounter the beauty of the sculptures in their natural settings. This project is innovative as it promotes gratefulness.
Timberwold Perk-Up - McDill Elementary - Crystal Armstrong - $1,285
The Timberwolf Perk-Up will be a mobile coffee cart that is student-led by ELL students, students with disabilities, and students who struggle with social skills/norms. This coffee cart will sell hot coffee, iced coffee, bottled water, and small snacks to McDill staff and campus guests on Friday mornings and at special events. This new coffee cart will create excitement within the student and staff population. Students who struggle with English and/or who face barriers in communication may struggle to find opportunities to shine.
Growing Learners - McDill Elementary - Koree Rohde - $1,493
The goal of this project is to bring the school garden into the classroom through the use of Tower Gardens. Students will gain confidence as their plants grow, they will begin to understand where food comes from and they will expand their palates as they try new foods that they have helped to grow and harvest.
Connecting Two Points: An anthology of Hmong American Youth From a Small City - SPASH - Xia Lee Vang - $1,000
The goal of the project is to integrate traditional literary methods with culturally-sustaining practices. The final product will be a first of its kind student anthology on first and second generation Hmong American youth experiences in "small city America". The project is innovative as it integrates traditional forms of literary methods with oral storytelling.
2005-2006 Grant Recipients
Mini-Grants
Measuring the Speed of Light – Tim Wright, SPASH - $360.00
This project will develop a lab experience in which physics students will determine the speed of light using radio waves. The activity will demystify the ideas behind broadcasting and receiving radio and other signals, and provide students with a hands-on experience that will enhance their understanding and appreciation of wireless technology concepts and applications.
Nie ma uprawa, Nie ma nic-Deborah Kluz Baker, SPASH - $500.00
This project will enhance students understanding of and appreciation for Polish culture. High school students enrolled in Poland: Yesterday and Today will create a heritage box with items that demonstrate Polish history and culture. These boxes will then be given to younger grades, where students will learn about what kinds of things make up culture.
Projects Grants
Creating the Scientists of Tomorrow-Jeffery Mlsna, P. J. Jacobs - $5,000.00
This project’s goal is to fund two mobile computer labs and two classroom sets of data collection devices. This project will put current technology into students’ hands, allowing each student to take a more active, hands-on role in their own learning. Students will participate in authentic laboratory experiments while spending less time collecting data and more time analyzing the results.
Wellness for Life – Barb Krueger, Kathy Oswall, Connie Negaard, Ben Franklin - $1,500.00 ($500 for health measurement equipment, $1000 for fitness equipment)
This project is a response to many concerns about obese and overweight students who are unable to physically participate in physical education classes. Students at-risk for becoming overweight or obese adults voluntarily enrolled in the program, which provided a once-per-day gym class designed for the needs and abilities of overweight students. This project provided at-risk students who wish to pursue a healthier lifestyle the opportunity to do so with other students who have the same goal.
Project 135 – T. J. Pharo-Kosak, McDill - $1,050.00
This project will provide a series of monthly service projects for student. Each project will be accompanied by in-classroom activities and instruction. Through participation in this project, students will explore new hobbies, experience the joy of community projects, and learn to become actively involved in their community.
World and Circle Drumming – Ann Wenzel, McDill - $2,590.00
This project will provide drums from around the world for music class. By incorporating many different types of lessons and performance opportunities, the project will provide instruction for various types of intelligences, including: emotional, visual interpersonal and rhythmic intelligences. This project will also provide a multi-cultural element to music education.
2006-2007 Grant Recipients
Mini-Grants
Geocache Du Sol – Karen Dostal (Boston School Forest) - $494.00
A sixth grade student project designed to give students a hands-on learning experience using solar energy while developing and outdoor recreational skill including how to orienteer using a GPS unit.
Beautifully Brilliant Books – Sherrie Stanczyk and Tina Sivek (McKinley Center) - $500.00Acquire copies of chapter books that area appropriate for second grade readers. Books will be the basis for a new Breakfast and a Book club. Students in the club will be given a book to read at home by a predetermined date. When the book is finished, they will be invited to school early for a discussion about the book over breakfast.
Identification of Organic Compounds – Kathy Lane-Browne (SPASH) - $490.00
Students will construct models of a variety of organic molecules. They will analyze structures and predict the strength of intermolecular forces. They will then separate and purify an unknown mixture of organic molecules by distillation. Results will be verified by visiting Dr. Johnson’s lab at UWSP.
Project Grants
Running on the Right Track – Cathy Williamson (Washington Service Learning Center) - $740.00
Develop an all-school running club to help children develop lifetime skills and habits of physical education and fitness. The Project is designed to enrich the 6th grade science curriculum through the use of pedometers and study of the cardiovascular system, wellness and healthy ways to deal with stress. It will also improve writing skills through the use of journal writing about goals and results.
Musical Enrichment – Yvonne Oksiuta (Bannach/Jefferson/McKinley) - $2000.00
The funds from this grant will pay for the purchase of 10 band instruments to be made available to students that receive free or reduced lunch. This allows 6th grade students an opportunity to join the band even if their parents cannot afford instrument rental.
Local Oral History – Geln Reindl/Deb Kluz Baker (SPASH) - $1,188.00
The Wisconsin History class will focus on Stevens Point’s Sesquicentennial by reporting on a facet of the community, be that people, buildings, locations or businesses. Compiled results will be turned over to the Portage County Historical Society for inclusion in the celebration of 150 years of history during the summer of 2008. Funding will support audio and video equipment necessary for reporting.
SPF Graphics, Inc. – Mark Vrieze (Ben Franklin Junior High) - $4200.00
This project focuses on creating a student-run business so that students can learn the process of creating, implementing and maintaining a small business. The project will involve 9th grade communication technology and engineering students from both junior highs. They will design and create school logos and graphics to be placed on clothing that will be available for sale. Students will determine budget and buy stock in their own company.
2007-2008 Grant Recipients
Mini Grants
The Daily Five: Lori Musack, Roosevelt IDEA School - $500.00
The Daily Five will be a project to provide first graders at Roosevelt IDEA School with language arts activities, allowing children to build vocabulary skills, and word building concepts through meaningful hands-on games. Students will be able to listen individually to stories on tape or Compact Disc and boost phonics skills with board games, flip boards, and magnetic kits, creating an opportunity for one on one and small group learning with the teacher.
Portage County Tour: Sherry Terpstra and Linda Stroik, Roosevelt IDEA School - $450.00
Third graders at Roosevelt IDEA School will be able to participate in an all-day guided bus tour of Portage County historical sites. The tours will enable third graders to become aware of the history of the county, something which is not found in their history text books. A local historian will guide the students through the trip, offering to the students a contagious enthusiasm for the history of Portage County.
Character Bound – Random Acts of Kindness: Betsy Muhvic and Sherri Holland, Bannach Elementary School - $500.00
This grant will allow the purchase of Character Bound, Integrity and Citizenship Teacher Kits, expanding the program at Bannach. The program facilitates the enhancement of students’ morale, a positive school climate, improvement in student behavioral choices, and the reinforcement of the life long skills of each trait. The traits are incorporated into the daily curriculum and provide a positive impact at school, home, and in the community.
Project Grants
Human Physiology With Technology: Laura Mielke, SPASH - $5,000.00
The goal of this project is to provide our biology department at Stevens Point Area Senior High with a classroom set of hands-on laboratory equipment that can be used in a human anatomy/physiology unit. The technology involved will be through the use of Vernier laboratory sensors that may be hooked up to interfaces with the computers available at our school.
Student Centered Learning Stations: Charlie Sensenbrenner and Cindy Solinsky, P. J. Jacobs - $1,500.00
This project will provide students at P. J. Jacobs Junior High with one computer station, which will be used for a variety of activities including blogging, podcasting, Intel’s “Think Tools,” PowerPoint, internet research, virtual field trips, and Vernier science experiment data collection. The project will provide one Apple-Macintosh computer and an iPod. Content-specific video clips will be loaded from United Streaming onto the iPod for small group study.
Habitat Enhancement: Jami Stuettgen, Kennedy Elementary School - $2,000.00
The Habitat Enhancement project for Kennedy Elementary School will provide the opportunity to expand the existing natural habitat for bird and animal study at the school. The project will provide teaching resources related to environmental education, provide non-fiction books and other materials related to animal habitats and bird study, and provide the materials and supplies necessary to expand the bird habitat area, and renew a butterfly garden.
Band Reaches Out to Every 6th Grader at P-W: Donna Bohm, Plover-Whiting Elementary School - $1,500.00
For Plover-Whiting students who may be interested in participating in band, but whose families cannot afford to purchase or rent a band instrument, this project will help make their participation possible. The grant will allow the school to purchase school-owned band instruments for students to use, and will give them the opportunity to be part of the band program when they may not have otherwise.
F.A.S.T. Patriots (Fitness, Activity, and Social Training): Joanne Suomi and Charlie Sensenbrenner, P. J. Jacobs Junior High - $1,000.00
The F.A.S.T. Patriots project will be able to purchase a number of heart-rate monitors, to be used as a tool for recording specific fitness data. The goal of the program will be to teach middle school students how to be active and productive in a fitness lab/education club while managing their own fitness, nutrition and wellness goals.
If You Can’t Beat Um – Join Um: Pam Bork, Roosevelt IDEA School - $850.00
This project will provide start-up funds for a gaming station/platform which will allow students with injuries or medical excuses to participate in their Physical Education class. Two options for this type gaming station will be the Nintendo Wii Sports Pack and the Sony Play Station’s Dance Dance Revolution. These interactive games require students to move and engage in media that increases their physical capacity, and are both aerobically and physically challenging.
2008-2009 Grant Recipients
Mini Grants
"Muppet" Puppets - Tommye Leafgren, Jefferson School for the Arts - $400
The children will be introduced to the art of puppetry by the teachers putting on some simple puppet shows for the children using a variety of different kinds of puppets. Stage performance will be taught so they find puppets fun to use and fun to watch. This project will enhance classroom environment and teacher effectiveness. Puppets will also help to develop the children’s creativity and foster skill development. Puppets can be a teaching tool that enhances and stimulates the creative and cognitive abilities of the children.
Science Club Outreach Activities - Tim Corcoran, SPASH - $480
This past year, the SPASH Science Club presented their hands on science activities for elementary aged children, and at the Science Extravaganza Day at SPASH. The goal of these events is to involve students in interesting science activities, providing them with the experiential background for future studies in science classes. The project provides educational and motivational activities for the elementary aged children and a leadership role for the senior high school students, who facilitate the activities. During these presentations, high school students perform demonstrations, or lead small groups in completing activities.
Keep Washington Drumming - Sandy Weyers, Washington Service-Learning Center - $500
The goal of the project is to purchase four African Tubano drums for the general music classroom. The purchase of the drums will allow more students to participate, and meet the music expectations of the school’s drumming program. A Drumming Club will also be offered to students completing the 5/6 drumming program. Also, students will participate in service-learning, by participating in the Service Learning Bake Sale project, to raise additional funds for the purchase of instruments for the general music class.
Lunch Bunch Reading - Kris Kunkel, Bannach Elementary School - $500
The goal of this project is to acquire multiple copies of books that are appropriate, current, and beneficial for second grade students to use during Lunch Bunch to discuss AODA topics such as friendship, death, and bullying. Once a month, students in the Lunch Bunch will use one of the books to enhance the discussion of an AODA topic. The project will help students identify and discuss AODA topics, as well as select and read new books that may relate to issues in their own lives. Classroom teachers will be able to guide small groups in a meaningful way, which strengthens life skills as well as comprehension and independent thinking, reasoning and reading.
Project Grants
Project Challenge - Kathy Brandon and Marlene McLarnan, Madison Elementary School - $720
Fifth and sixth grade students will meet one day a week before school for six weeks to come up with unique ideas for Project Challenge. Project Challenge will provide a small group setting for the students to solve the problems set before them. Each challenge is presented by a teacher to the whole group. The teachers will serve as facilitators by reading the challenge to the students and then the teams will get to work with a container of limited materials. The groups will work for thirty to forty-five minutes to create a product that meets the criteria, and will be judged and awarded points on creativity, methods, teamwork and following directions.
Junior High Global Positioning Studies - Cindy Solinsky and Charlie Sensenbrenner, Ben Franklin and P. J. Jacobs - $4,500
Students will enhance their navigation and mapping skills by learning to operate Global Positioning Systems (GPS) and Geographic Information (GIS) equipment. Each student will have an opportunity to operate a handheld GPS unit and use it to navigate and map areas on the school grounds. We will put modern technology into the hands of our junior high students, while also introducing computer mapping and letting them see how it relates to the natural world around them. This project helps to unify the earth science curriculum and instruction between junior highs, ensuring a similar skill base for sophomores entering high school.
Multicultural Peace Project - Joan Curti, Kennedy Elementary School - $1,850
Students will communicate with other classrooms through letters and/or e-mail, sharing their traditions and milestones. This will be done with each student having several pen pals. First, the students will share letters with a class in another part of the state, and then other countries. Each student will compile their writing, along with those of classmates and pen pals, in a book modeled after the book The Milestones Project – Celebrating Childhood Around the World. At the end of the school year, students will have the opportunity to visit their pen pals, share their book and celebrate what they have learned together, and how they can use what they have learned to impact others.
Audio Learning Centers - Tammy Brooks, Madison Elementary School - $869
Audio books can help bridge the gap for students attempting to read above their independent reading level. With the Audio Learning Centers, reading time is maximized with recorded books for students who have a difficult time finding reading materials at their reading level. The books would be shared with all 3rd grade teachers at Madison Elementary School and benefit approximately fifty to seventy-five students each year.
Graphing Calculator Applications - Patricia Struble, P. J. Jacobs - $4,380
This project has the goal of incorporating the use of TI-84 graphing calculators in a variety of projects that span the curriculum at all levels of instruction. Students will be able to make connections through the use of authentic data presented in real-life situations. They will learn how mathematics concepts are applied in real life, as well as how the technology plays a role in applying the concepts. All mathematics teachers at P. J. Jacobs will incorporate graphing calculators into their curriculum, reaching nearly 700 students in 30 sections of mathematics each year.
2009-2010 Grant Recipients
Mini Grants
Book and Breakfast Bunch – Ben Franklin Junior High School - $500
Cognitively disabled students will have the opportunity to participate in a book club, using audio books for book discussions and connecting home to school. The audio books will bridge the gap between special education interests and current social, cultural, and academic topics, while being above students’ current academic reading levels. Students will be able to share their audio book experiences with their families and then with their peers at school. The breakfast portion of the program will allow for increased opportunities to practice appropriate social behaviors and increase self-esteem. The program will start with two CD classrooms at Ben Franklin Junior High School and could be expanded to approximately 75 additional special education students in the building.
Books of Hope – Roosevelt IDEA School - $500
This project will allow Roosevelt IDEA School students to establish their own book publishing program to participate in Books of Hope. Students will write a minimum of 100 books to be shared with English speaking students in Uganda. Students in Uganda will be able to strengthen their English as well as learn about American culture. The project will start with second grade students and could expand to the entire school, depending on program success. The project has the potential to reach approximately 900 students in Uganda.
Project Grants
Opera for the Young – McKinley Center - $735
This project will invite Opera for the Young to visit the school to work with students and present an afternoon performance of an opera that is related to literature. The Opera for the Young cast will bring four professional opera singers and one pianist/vocal coach, as well as all set pieces, costumes and props. Opera for the Young will conduct an hour-long rehearsal with the student chorus prior to the 45 minute performance. Students will have the opportunity to appear on stage in chorus and cameo roles, performing for their peers alongside Opera for the Young professional artists. The project will include the entire student body at McKinley Center, but focus on approximately 16 performers from grades five and six.
Operation Author Study – Kennedy Elementary School - $4,500
Students in first and second grade will study literature genres by several authors, with the goal of the project being making connections between books. Classes will purposefully study authors who have written many different genres of literature and will allow for integrating literature across various subject areas. The project will be a collaborative between Kennedy Elementary School’s first and second grade classrooms, with the potential to effect approximately 75 students.
Book Swap: Getting Books into Students’ Hands – SPASH - $2,200
The Book Swap will involve approximately 1,800 students at SPASH during National Library Week in the spring of 2010, and will be coordinated through the library and English classes. Students will have the opportunity to bring books from home to swap with books from other students, increasing interest in reading and literacy. Any books remaining after the book swap will be donated to local non-profit organizations such as the Boys and Girls Club, and First Home.
Forensics – SPASH - $3,835
The goal for this project is to provide the biology department at SPASH with equipment and resources to incorporate a forensics unit into the general biology curriculum. The project will enable students to discover forensic science through problem solving and hands-on experiences. The equipment requested will allow individual labs to examine DNA evidence, footprint castings, fingerprint recovery and analysis, bone analysis and several other experiments. The equipment purchased would benefit all biology classes at SPASH, with 23-25 individual classes per year serving approximately 600 students.
Regional Water Quality Initiative – SPASH - $1,340
The overall goal is to expand the existing 15+ year examination of watershed projects performed by biology students at SPASH. Students will collect relevant data for the on-going 10th grade Biology Balanced Aquarium project. The project will also enhance all field based studies offered through the SPASH science department. The overall impact of these learning experiences will be approximately 500-600 students each year, plus outreach to the community.
2010-2011 Grant Recipients
Mini-Grants
Portage County Historic Fieldtrip--K. Caufield, T. Brooks, L. Stortecy, Madison School--$450.00
Students will acquire historic information about Portage County via bus tours. They will gain knowledge by observing and exploring locations that helped build the community history including the Korean War Memorial, Nelsonville Mill, Iverson Park, UWSP, Downtown Murals, and the Synagogue.
Book and Breakfast Club--Barb Clementi, Ben Franklin Junior High School--$500.00
This project will provide a before school reading club for students with disabilities. Funding will be used to purchase additional high interest books to read and materials for students to complete projects based on their reading.
Livescribe in the Classroom--T. Cronce, J. Schraufnagel, Bannach School--$340.00
The goal of this project is to reinforce lessons taught during the regular school day by purchasing and using Livescribe™. Livescribe™ is a Desktop software that runs on the computer to view and listen to the content the teacher creates and captures using a Pulse™ smartpen. Any child with internet access can view notes, listen to audio recorded by the teacher, and watch a step by step tutorial that walks the parents and students through the procedures taught that day.This will help both parents and students to better understand the concepts and ideas needed to succeed in their learning. This will also enable students to review for quizzes and tests with a clearer understanding. According to Livescribe experts, “The Pulse™ smartpen provides all students with unlimited access to teacher instruction anytime, anywhere and provides student populations and educational programs with a more customized learning experience.”
The Very Young Composer--Sandy Weyers, Washington School--$500.00
Money received from the Education Enrichment Fund will be used to invest in materials used to create a composition booklet for students to use during the after school class. This booklet will also be used by the student for music notation, composing and creating pictorials of the composition the student is to create for their final piece. A smaller portion of the grant money was used to supply a small snack for the young composers at the beginning of each night of the class.
Sensory Regulation--Jessica Fischer, Bannach School--$495.00
This project provides students with disabilities the opportunity to self-regulate when they feel overwhelmed, agitated or simply need some sensory input. This project is new and exciting for students because typical classrooms require that students stay in their seats most of the day with little movement. A ball chair allows students freedom of movement, while staying within their personal space and in a seated position. Research suggests that ball chairs assist with issues like balance, postural control, attention, and sensory seeking behaviors of the vestibular and proprioceptive systems.
Kindness Campaign--Peggy Bach, McKinley School--$200.00
This project involves a school wide project to increase positive social behavior and decrease negative social interactions. Students will be more aware of their behavior and look for acknowledgement of good behavior. School wide t-shirts will be reinforcement of the positives.
Art Attitude--P. Bach, P. Somers, McKinley School--$525.00
The project provides students with opportunities to explore the mediums of sketching, painting on a canvas, beading, sculpting and using water colors through self expression of feelings. Students will mentor younger students and assist them in creative ways to express feelings, either positive or negative.
Learning and Gravity--Kim Willkom, McKinley School--$725.00
Regular and special education students in all grades at the elementary school will have the opportunity to discover the neurological benefits of using balance boards in their daily lives. This project will allow students to train their sensory system by working with the proprioception and vestibular systems.
Project Grants
On-line Literary Journal--Jill Quinn, SPASH--$2000.00
The On-Line Literary Journal--a completely paperless magazine--will provide a niche at SPASH for students interested in literature, writing and art, and showcase Spash’s best writers to the school, community, and world. It will prepare students for the 21st century by providing them with a creative environment in which to use various technologies, extending the educational value of the Sentry 1:1 Laptop Initiative beyond the classroom. In addition, it will improve students’ writing, revision, and editing abilities. Funding will provide web design software, digital cameras for photographing artwork, external microphones, and digital voice recorders for producing audio files of SPASH authors reading their works.
Local History Alive--Dan Hoppe, SPASH--$3051.00
The grant will be used to purchase technology equipment to allow students to create 3-5 minute documentaries about local history. Students research a local history topic, write a script, and use primary source material and other video that they will shoot to present a historical event in Portage County. The created documentaries will be shared with the Portage County Historical Society to advance their mission. The grant will provide funding to purchase 2 IMacs with video editing software and a couple of handheld video cameras for students to shoot scenes or interviews.
Prop-up the Story: Home Literacy Project--Amber Garbe, Madison School--$1650.00
The goal of this project is to build a connection between the home and school environments for young English Language Learners (ELLs). It also addresses language development and reading comprehension goals. Props, such as puppets and manipulatives, purchased through the grant, will provide an access point for retelling and language development. The props motivate students to engage in multiple sessions with the same text as their expressive language grows. Students will also take the props home and retell the story to their families in their native language.
Music Exploration--Laura Haugen, Ben Franklin--$1084.00
Music Exploration is a seventh grade music class designed to develop global awareness through appreciation of music from different cultures. Grant funding will be used to enhance the course through the addition of a world drumming kit and equipment necessary to integrate technology, GarageBand, as a further enrichment experience.
Electronic Instruction--Jo Brommer, Plover-Whiting--$2500.00
This project is a program that will establish a creative and interactive environment at Plover- Whiting Elementary School. An interactive whiteboard will be mounted in the Library Media Center and a set of 32 student response (or “clicker”) systems that will be available for use by all classrooms. The goal is to create a learning environment where students are actively engaged in the learning process.
2011-2012 Grant Recipients
Project Grants
Bridging Technology and Academics for Children with Special Needs, Lisa Rychter, McKinley Center--$4500.00
This project will provide special needs students with touch screen technological devices, iPads, to enhance instruction and communication. Using ipads will enrich the educational experiences of students with special needs by enabling them to have access to learning in ways that are not possible with traditional teaching methods and preparing them for the technological world.
New Styles of Technology at SPASH--Formula 1 Racing Club, Dan Strobel, SPASH--$5000.00
The goal of this project is to create a racing club in which students will design and build a race car to be raced at Road America Wisconsin. The funding will provide the equipment necessary to allow students to use problem solving and engineering skills to build a car from the raw material to a competitive, safe racing vehicle.
What is the Alternative? Exploring Solar and Wind Energy, Cindy Solinsky, Ben Franklin Junior High School--$5000.00
This project provides the equipment necessary for students to further their understanding of solar energy by creating and producing apparatus powered by solar chips or fans. Students will share and demonstrate their inventions with the student body, parents and staff.
2012-2013 Grant Recipients
Project Grants
Innovative Illustrators and Positive Publishers, Lori Clapham, Rose Helm, and Jamie Resch, Plover-Whiting Elementary, $2300
Their project will teach students how to become an author/illustrator and the steps it takes to publish work.
Social Thinking, Joyce Fuehrer-Mancl and Mary Wykle, Roosevelt, $ 700
This project will provide a fun, motivating, and non-threatening way for students to explore social thinking concepts using Superflexible strategies.
Opening the Doors of Education: Web-Based Conferencing Support for the Stevens Point Area Public School District, Jeff Mlsna, Tim Wright, and Betty Wright, District, $4551
The goal of the project is to add Big Blue Button, a video communication tool, to the SPASD Moodle online course presentation and management environment.
Uniting Classroom and Industry through ProStart, Tiana Schultz, SPASH, $3650
The goal of this project is to spark passion for and interest in the foodservice industry and increase students’ employment opportunities. This project will expose students to trends in the industry and introduce students to foodservice by participating in culinary and management competitions held by the National Restaurant Association. Students will have the opportunity to obtain the ProStart Certificate.
A Voice for Every Student--Nate Olson, October Penner, and Julie Kolarik, Ben Franklin Junior High, $3200
This team will teach students to participate using response devices (clickers) to provide feedback, answer questions, or participate in discussion. Using these devices for assessing students, teacher will obtain immediate data in regards to individual student’s understanding of the material. Teachers will have accurate insight of student knowledge enabling them to alter lessons to meet their students’ individual needs.
2013-2014 Recipients
Janel Brogaard & Carolyn Greenlee ($1,490)--“Language Library”—Using Kindles to increase literacy skills of all students in World Languages
Jill Quinn ($5,000)--“Kindling a Love for Lit”—Using Kindles in the literature classroom to improve reading skills and nurturing a love of reading
Mary Zinda ($2,690)--“Kids in the Stevens Point Sculpture Park”—Creating artwork and displaying their artwork in public venues using peace flag projects
Beth Molski ($1,200)--“Little Libraries”—Building little libraries to place in prominent locations in town to encourage kids to read, using the “take a book, leave a book” motto
Cindy Solinsky ($3,600)--“STEM Branching into our Community”—7th grade science students in the STEM Branching class at Ben Franklin will combine curriculum with community projects to fulfill course requirements.
2014-2015 Recipients
Brett Lesniak – “Impact Bully”
The SPASH Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) will continue its positive impact by implementing the Impact Bully Project to stop bullying through peer education in the elementary schools.
John Weisbrod – “Recording the Future”
This collaborative project (Science, Social Studies, Reading, English, and Special Ed.) will have 7thgraders researching projects and developing podcasts, videos, posters, etc to demonstrate their understanding of the project.
Mary Zinda/Faye Miller – “Health, Wellness, and Self Esteem: Learning through Art and Nature”
Students visiting the Sculpture Park will share their artistic talents through the creation of peace flags that demonstrate and translate their understanding of discussions regarding bullying and other life challenges into personal artworks.
Beth Molski – “Little Free Libraries—Phase II”
This project will continue with the building of eight additional little libraries that you’ve probably seen popping up around our district.
Dorothy O’Connor – “Jefferson School Eagle’s Nest”
his project will allow students to provide a sustainable outdoor learning environment while working with the soil and existing garden beds.
Paula Bartel – “Summer Reading Book Cycle”
This project will expand a program of book distribution by bicycle during the summer months, a time when reading is most important to keep those skills.
Julie Hlavac – “Energizers”
This project will allow students to experience activities that their families are unable to participate with them due to financial constraints or cultural/language differences.
2015-2016 Recipients
Project: Making SMART Connections
Jodi Tuskowski and Rose Helm will be involving third through sixth graders in collaborative learning projects by using an interactive SMART table which will build excitement and motivation to learning!
Project: Grow with the Flow
Megan DeWall and Cindy Solinsky will be using an interactive unit to explore development, energy flow, and human environmental impact. Students will function as citizen-scientists monitoring the effects of changing environmental factors on plants.
Project: Service Learning with a Kick
Cooper Behnke and Tyler Wietrzykowski (Ben Franklin Junior High Students) will be building a computer and giving it to a student who does not have one at home. They will be buying some materials and using some they already have.
Project: Taking Flight with Learning
Bennett Wendorf and Gunner Zdroik (Ben Franklin Junior High Students) will be building a quad copter, creating a video log of the building process, and working with various classes to utilize the camera on the quad copter to take pictures of activities. This project is entirely student led.
Project: Building School Culture at the Point of Discovery School
The Point of Discovery School will use these funds to sponsor a retreat to the Lions Camp to learn what it means to be a part of a learning community and work towards goals in a collaborative setting. Students AND teachers/chaperones will be attending!
Project: So, where in the World are you from?
Deborah Kluz-Baker will have students making stronger connections with the rest of the world, especially its people and their cultures. Deb will use Ancesty.com to make use of their genetic testing and research about racial and ethnic makeup and have students design a family tree.
2019-20 School Year Recipients
Jackie Zuelke-Karch
Accessing the Voice Inside Me
Bannach Elementary
Daniella Kurzynski and Dorothy O'Connor
Jefferson Eagle Canine Guest Educators
Jefferson Elementary
Ginny Williams
Lunch Bunch
Ben Franklin Junior High
Jodi Tuskowski
Gizmos and Gadgets and Inventions! Oh my!
Washington Elementary
Josh and Kelsey Hames
Communities that Compost Grow the Most
P.J. Jacobs Junior High and Roosevelt Elementary
Victoria Schultz
Children's Theatre Intensives
Playhouse Theatre Group
Kim Boden
Accessibility for All
Jefferson Elementary
Mary Zinda and Faye Miller
A World of Peace
Stevens Point Sculpture Park