The Nebo Education Foundation board had a record number of grants in October. Here are a few more that received funds to meet the many needs across the district. This Foundation Board functions through generous donations made by individuals and businesses as well as fundraisers where all the money goes to educate students in Nebo School District. Thank you to all those that so generously supported Nebo students through donations.
Congratulations to the following teachers that continue to bless the lives of students.
Brookside Elementary – Mijken Hall, Special Education Teacher
Mijken Hall, special education teacher, said, “Thank you, thank you, Nebo Education Foundation for supporting my classroom again!! The new learning toys will help my students learn fundamental skills including cause and effect, colors, numbers, sharing, and shapes; and they will have fun doing it. They won't even know they are learning! My technicians, the students, their families, and I sincerely appreciate the support shown to our students.”
Springville Junior – Valerie Bodily, Math Teacher
“Thank you so much! The $960 grant will be used to purchase graphing calculators for our school. These graphing calculators will be used to help allow students to become familiar with mathematical technology, including helping students learn basic programming skills. Graphing calculators will specifically help students graph quadratic, cubic, exponential, square root, and cube root functions. Students will also learn how to use technology to perform tasks such as factorials, permutations, combinations, quadratic regressions, trigonometric functions, etc. (tasks that are too complicated to perform by hand at the junior high level). My students are very excited and grateful for this opportunity! Thank you Nebo Education Foundation!” stated Valerie Bodily, math teacher at Springville Junior.
Principal Ryan McGuire said, “I wanted to take a minute and thank all of you for approving the grant for Mrs. Valerie Bodily's math class and students. The money you have allocated will go toward the purchase of a classroom set of graphing calculators. Mrs. Bodily teaches many of our honors classes; and the ability to place a calculator of this quality, will aid both the teacher and students in moving forward. Mrs. Bodily also takes a group of math students to compete at the state math competition at BYU each year. She has commented to me that these will be a great tool to enable our students to excel in the classroom. Thank you for your time and effort on behalf of the students of Nebo School District, and especially those of Springville Junior High.”
Springville High – Trent Mikesell, English Teacher
Trent Mikesell, English teacher at Springville High, said, “As eleventh-grade English teachers, we are immensely grateful for this grant. We are planning on buying copies of the graphic novel March. We feel that it's important for our students to read both old and new novels, stories, and books, but this can be hard to fund. We appreciate that the Nebo Foundation understands the need for this, and we are grateful to our great school for matching funds. We are planning on doing an entire unit around Civil Rights culminating in studying this graphic novel and doing a civil rights research project. This is an important story, and the graphic novel format makes it accessible and interesting.”
Sage Creek Elementary – Wendy Fullmer, Librarian
“Thank you Nebo Foundation for showing your interest and faith in our students with your donation. When students in our school enter the library, they are energetic and inquisitive, full of imagination and creativity, and in need of more unplugged ways to channel that creative energy. MakerSpaces are an educational trend in libraries across the nation and have proven to be beneficial for the development of creativity, critical thinking skills, and collaborative skills--all in a fun, safe environment. The marble stunt sets, legos, keva planks, and K'Nex will allow them the opportunity to work collectively, problem solve, and create. Your generous donation will help create a space where creative learning is possible. It will help develop a love of learning and exploration in eager young hearts and minds. By helping to provide funds for supplies for the creation of a MakerSpace in our library, those energetic, inquisitive, creative minds will have a place to stretch and grow in ways that we don't have the means for otherwise. Thank you, thank you,” exclaimed Wendy Fullmer, librarian at Sage Creek Elementary.
Mapleton Elementary – Lynelle Nugent, Fourth-Grade Teacher
Lynelle Nugent, fourth-grade teacher at Mapleton Elementary, said, “Communication skills include the ability to speak, read, write, and present. Through the use of technology, we are given the opportunity to further hone these skills and look for creative ways to enhance these skills in the classroom. Among looking for opportunities to use communication skills, we continue to look for creative ways to present information in the classroom. With the grant, we will be able to provide students with various learning opportunities that would not be available without the use of Chromebooks. We will be able to extend learning opportunities into practicing the writing process, use various textbook internet resources (in all content areas), extend learning beyond textbook information, as a means of research and communication, and ultimately a way to integrate technology into the classroom setting. We know that having this grant will provide authentic learning opportunities and will be of great academic benefit to our students. I appreciate the opportunity this grant gives me to use added resources in the classroom. I know that students will grow and advance from being able to extend their knowledge through the use of the added technology this grant has given us.”
Mapleton Junior – Lori Marett, Librarian
“Scholastic Magazines provide an excellent resource for the teachers at Mapleton Junior High to provide practice for their students with a variety of short, interesting, relevant informational and fictional texts including political cartoons, charts, graphs, plays, grammar and argumentative prompts. The use of short, current texts help core teachers to prepare for SAGE testing and other content teachers to keep their curriculum lively and engaging. Because these magazines are housed in the library, they are available to all the teachers in the school. The contents of each magazine is typed into a document and shared with all the teachers in the school making each magazine available to all teachers in their planning. Without the generosity of the Nebo Foundation the library would be unable to provide this invaluable resource,” stated Lori Marett, librarian at Mapleton Junior.
