Nebo Education Foundation Gives Grants November 2018

Submitted by lana.hiskey on

The Nebo Education Foundation meets each month at 7:00 a.m. to discuss submitted educational grant proposals for students in Nebo School District. One of the goals of the foundation is to fund worthwhile projects in the district that provide resources to enrich student learning. The foundation 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.

Mt. Loafer Elementary – Jen Lundquist, Fourth-Grade Teacher
Jen Lundquist, fourth-grade teacher at Mt. Loafer Elementary, said, “Thank you Nebo Foundation for the grant to help build our classroom library. We feel like Christmas came early in our classroom. We are updating books, adding guided reading books, classroom book sets, growth mindset books and increasing our mentor texts used to help us with our writing. Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!”

Foothills Elementary – Kate Elliott, Sixth-Grade Teacher
“I feel honored to be the recipient of a Nebo Foundation grant. I want to extend my sincere appreciation to the board for your support of the STEM activities that are being implementing in our classroom. We have been wishing for a hot air balloon launcher for the past several years and cannot wait use it as part of our heat energy unit. We are also excited to learn about renewable sources of energy by building wind turbines with the supplies you have provided. Some of the other activities include building simple robots, building heat shields for space shuttles returning from the ISS and other amazing projects. Thanks again for your generous support,” stated, Kate Elliott, fourth-grade teacher at Foothills Elementary.

Apple Valley Elementary – Liberty Mortensen, School Librarian
“I received a grant from the Nebo Education Foundation in the amount of $600. This grant will be used for the purchase of books that meet the criteria of the University of Utah's Reading Clinic, in which our intervention specialist team is trained in. We meet with multiple children in one setting on a daily basis. Meeting with several students at once allows us to service a high volume of individuals. The purchase of these books will be a great asset to students in grades 1-3 who are falling behind in reading, fluency and comprehension,” said Liberty Mortensen, school librarian at Apple Valley Elementary. “I am thrilled to be able to have this extra grant money from Nebo Education Foundation. I am excited to watch students improve and understand reading on a higher level. It means so much to me to watch their self esteem improve.”

Riverview Elementary – Matt Jenkins, Third-Grade Teacher
“This was such an amazing grant! I want every student to find joy in reading. I know that in order to enjoy reading, sometimes requires finding that magic book that opens the world of reading to students. This grant has allowed me to purchase many high interest books for my students. I was even able to purchase many highly requested books. I appreciate this so much, because it allows me to try and reach out to every student,” said, Matt Jenkins, third-grade teacher at Riverview Elementary.

Diamond Fork Junior – Anthony Bowden, Physical Education Teacher
Anthony Bowden, physical education teacher at Diamond Fork Junior, said, “I received $800 to go with $800 of matching funds from a donor to purchase archery equipment for Diamond Fork Junior High. When I came to Diamond Fork a year ago I noticed several long bows. The stings were worn out and there were no left handed bows. With the grant I just received I will be purchasing a few left handed bows, many arrows, backstop netting so we can shoot inside as well as the necessary equipment to shoot safely and build an archery unit here at Diamond Fork. I believe the students will be thrilled to experience archery an activity that could bring a lifetime of satisfaction. Thank you Nebo Education Foundation! For giving our students this opportunity.”

East Meadows Elementary – Nathan Melton, Behavior Unit Teacher
“I am so excited that I received this grant from the Nebo Education Foundation. I teach an Options Unit and have several grades in my classroom. Planning lessons for multiple grades and aligning them with the core can be a challenge. This generous donation from the Foundation will allow me to purchase curriculum for both 5th grade social studies and 6th grade science. I am so grateful for the Foundation and their support of my classroom,” stated, Nathan Melton, behavior unit teacher at East Meadows Elementary.

East Meadows Elementary – Third-Grade Team - Stevie Carr, McKell Sundrud, Sydney Sharp, Emily Peery
“Thank you so much for this grant. We are so appreciative! We took our students to Salem Pond to learn about wetlands and study the living and nonliving organisms there. Our students had a great time running around and learning at the different stations we set up for them. Thanks again for all you do!” exclaimed the third-grade team at East Meadows Elementary.

Sierra Bonita Elementary – Amy Staheli, Third-Grade Teacher
Amy Staheli, third-grade teacher at Sierra Bonita, said, “I want to take the opportunity to express gratitude for your support of my classroom in approving a grant for eight new Chromebooks. This donation will benefit all of my 28 students this year and students for years to come. This donation is extremely exciting as it completes my classroom set. The Chromebooks will provide opportunities for learning language arts, reading, math, social studies, and science as well as allow me the opportunity to teach the technology skills my students need at this time. I am so excited to have a one-to-one initiative classroom. Thanks again for contributing to the enrichment of my students.”

Brookside Elementary – June Lopez, Instructional Coach
“Thank you so much for funding the grant request to get high interest- low readability (Hi-Lo) books in our leveled (guided reading) library! Our teachers and their students will be so excited to have books that are interesting and age appropriate. Having appealing books within student reading levels will increase the motivation to become better readers. With the donation, we will get high quality books in the hands of our students to help them want to read more and become better readers,” stated, June Lopez, instructional coach at Brookside Elementary.

Mapleton Junior – Chrystal Chesney, Math Teacher
“I am thrilled to be given the funding to purchase Gel Boards to help me with daily formative assessing. My students love how "magic" the boards are and I love the immediate data that I get. It allows me to give immediate feedback to fill the learning gap of those that misunderstood the current topic,” stated Chrystal Chesney, math teacher at Mapleton Junior.

Brookside Elementary – Mijken Hall, Third-Grade Teacher
Mijken Hall, third-grade teacher at Brookside, said, “Thank you again to Nebo Education Foundation for your generosity! My students will be thrilled when their materials come in. We are especially excited to receiving a ball pit, crush resistant balls and air pump to help with sensory regulation issues. Thank you to the Foundation and all of those who support innovative uses of funding.”

Orchard Hills Elementary – Anya Darger, Physical Education Teacher
Anya Darger, physical education teacher at Orchard Hills said, “With this grant I will be buying large exercise balls, buckets and drum sticks so that each child will have one. At Orchard Hills with Mr. Murray we have a goal to try to keep our kids anxiously engaged in having an active lifestyle. We wanted to branch out and find something that every age would be able to do and enjoy. Possible something that they could even do at home and look forward to learning and doing more while in gym. The drums alive, that I will be doing with the kids, will help them to learn an easy routine that will raise there heart rate and let them drum away on something, adding both a workout and music. The thing that I love about these drums is everyone can do it and every grade can participate. We may even have an assembly to have the kids perform in front of the other students and help build there self esteem by working hard and memorizing a routine to perform. We will also be able to use these balls and help the kids with some simple warm-ups that they could do at home to help with having a healthy lifestyle. We are so excited to do this and add a little more to gym and get the kids excited!!!   Thank you so much for this opportunity.”

Park View Elementary – Mary Kathryn Hall, Fourth-Grade Teacher
Mary Kathryn Hall, Park View fourth-grade teacher, stated, “I am so grateful to receive a grant from the Nebo Foundation. I received it for a classroom set of books: Moo by Sharon Creech. I read this book the first day of summer break and knew that it was perfect for my fourth graders to read as a classroom novel. Not only does this book deal with issues about moving, learning to work, and death, but also it is written in poetry form. I am so appreciative for the Nebo Foundation to help fund this book. It was published in 2017, and having current literature written in a different style makes teaching language arts exciting. Thank you once again for the opportunity to be able to purchase a classroom set of books.”