TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV) – The Vigo County Education Foundation awarded $87,985 to VCSC teachers as part of its Teacher Mini-Grants.
Teachers that were awarded one of these grants could receive up to $750 dollars.
Since 1984, the foundation has granted nearly $3 million to schools and programs with VCSC. The goal of these grants is to enhance learning opportunities for VCSC children. VCEF Executive Director Jane Nichols said that this is an amazing opportunity for teachers and students.
“We’ve got great teachers and we’ve got great students,” Nichols said. “They need some extras that aren’t included in the school budget and they deserve every opportunity.”
These grants would not be made possible without the help of the local community. The majority of the money comes from businesses, individuals and sponsors who want to support.
“Individuals give and we have some special events where businesses are sponsors so we raise funds that way,” Nichols said.
Fayette Elementary School Principal Janel Bonomo said that teachers at her school have been good stewards of this grant money in the past and will continue to be. She mentioned teachers putting together bags of school supplies that students can take home with them. After periods of online learning during the pandemic, she said that they realized not all students have the proper learning materials at home.
“We got to thinking, this isn’t just a COVID thing, this is an all the time thing,” Bonomo said. “Even when a regular school year is happening we want them to be able to be lifelong learners at home as well.”
Bonomo believes that these grants are vital in achieving just that. The ability to give teachers those extra resources to be creative and inspire creativity in students makes for the perfect environment to build a students passion for learning.
“We want to inspire them to love to learn,” Bonomo explained. “School should not be a chore.”
