Foundation boosts Whitefish class projects
Projects and classrooms in the Whitefish School District have received $15,500 from the Whitefish Education Foundation.
The nonprofit organization recently awarded grants to elementary, middle school and high school applicants.
Since its inception in 2006, the Whitefish Education Foundation has awarded more than $150,000 in grants directly to classrooms. Teachers may apply for classroom grants twice a year for special projects not funded through the regular school budget.
“If it’s not in the school budget, we strive to make it happen,” a press release from the foundation says.
In the most recent round of grants, Whitefish High School’s Advanced Placement biology class used some grant money to buy equipment, Principal Dave Carlson said.
The class will get six gel electrophoresis boxes and three power supplies, which will allow students to separate and study DNA molecules. The high school library will purchase two chairs with grant money.
The high school literary journal, Snowghost, also received a grant. The journal has 100 pages with color photos, art, short stories and poems, founder and English teacher Matt Holloway said.
“I started it because there was no creative outlet for our kids to show their work, other than art shows,” he said.
The foundation has given the journal grant money for the last three years, Holloway said.
At Whitefish Middle School, the library and one fifth-grade classroom will benefit from this round of grant money. Librarian Dana Carmichael received money to help her buy a plaque to recognize the winners of last year’s “Battle of the Books,” a literary quiz bowl-type competition she hosted last year, Assistant Principal Josh Branstetter said.
Carmichael may also use some grant money to buy prizes for other library competitions, he said.
Fifth-grade teacher Brenda Moen received a grant that allowed her to buy a speaker system for her classroom, Branstetter said. Moen’s room has an interactive whiteboard, projector and document camera; a speaker system will enhance her classroom’s technological capabilities, he said.
Whitefish Education Foundation dollars also will be used to train Whitefish teachers in My Access, a computer program that uses artificial intelligence to help students improve their writing skills. Whitefish Middle School piloted the program last year.
Some grant money will be used to buy fencing for the “edible schoolyard” piloted by food service director Jay Stagg.
The garden will double as an outdoor classroom “where kids can actually touch and see where their food comes from,” Stagg told the Inter Lake in March.
A grant also helped buy a set of “TeacherMates” for Dana Grove’s first-grade classroom.
Grove said she can use the TeacherMate handheld computer system to help her students with math and reading. Each student has a computer in his or her desk, and Grove can download curricula on the units.
Each computer can be synched according to the student’s needs, she said. Advanced students can have more advanced instruction; students who need a little extra help can have more fundamental information on their TeacherMates.
“It’s really quite amazing,” Grove said of the system.
She first tested the system last spring, when she had four TeacherMates in her classroom.
“I liked it so much I asked for a class set,” she said.
Whitefish Education Foundation’s fall grant cycle soon will be announced to teachers. The foundation relies on community support to fund requests.
The foundation board and special committees raise money for grants and scholarships. Those interested in contributing may contact Richard Kramer at 250-9786 or Gayle MacLaren at 862-1276.
Reporter Kristi Albertson may be reached at 758-4438 or at kalbertson@dailyinterlake.com.