Four teachers awarded State Farm Teacher Assist Grants
Four Lee County teachers have been awarded State Farm Teacher Assist grants to support their classrooms. Each teacher will receive $2,500 for specific projects that will benefit students, advance academic achievement and be innovative, creative and engaging
The four teachers winning grants are Anna Haag from Trafalgar Middle School, Dianna Quay from Cape Coral High School, Joy Williams from North Fort Myers High School, and Marion Eidem from the Pace Center for Girls.
At Trafalgar Middle School, health teacher Haag plans to use the $2,500 grant to buy more mannequins and automated external defibrillators. Adult and infant CPR mannequins will help students practice and perfect their newly learned CPR skills. The AED trainers will help students become familiar with how to apply the AED pads and how to properly utilize the machine to assist with cardiac arrest. At the end of this project, students that have successfully participated will receive an American Heart Association certificate showing their training in first aid and CPR skills.
Quay at Cape Coral High School said the Students Against Destructive De-cisions Club plans to start “Operation: Motivation” with the grant money. Operation: Motivation is a student led series of broadcasts directly into the school’s classrooms to spread uplifting, motivational, and informational videos that promote positive mental health. The funding will allow for the purchase of the equipment necessary to start the broadcasts. They plan to focus on mental health, suicide prevention, bullying, and texting while driving at first. The vision is for Operation: Motivation to spread out to schools across the District.
North Fort Myers High School art teacher Williams said she will blend the arts and sciences to build an analemmatic sundial between the school’s bus ramp and garden with the grant. Building an analemmatic sundial will help students observe and understand the incremental changes in the sun’s declination degrees which result in the four seasons. Hundreds of students will be involved. Visual arts students will design the patterns to be used for the metal panels and tiles, science students will help determine the declination of the sun at our latitude to ensure accurate alignment, voluntary public service students will help place the stepping stones, weed block and garden gravel and Access students will be the first to use the new facility.
The PACE Center for Girls will use the Teacher Assist Grant to increase engagement with students learning online. Working with teachers Rebecca Detwiler and Rachelle Camacho, PACE Director Eidem identified four programs the school could use. The software will help with math, educational videos, recording and editing and interactive presentations. The remaining funds will be use to purchase trade books and subscriptions to digital books. The goal is to show students the importance and value of independent learning opportunities since 90% will transition back to traditional school, become employed or go to college or a vocational school.
In January, State Farm accepted the first 200 applications for the Teacher Assist Grant. A selection committee then chose 40 recipients, for a total of $100,000 to benefit Florida schools.