ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Mariah Solis was teaching her third-grade class at Union Terrace Elementary School recently when she heard a loud knock on her door.
It was members of the Allentown School District Foundation surprising her with a $1,200 check.
Solis had won a Teacher Innovation Grant. Last year, she also received one, and was able to start an afterschool STEAM Club for second and third graders with the money. The students in the club participate in activities related to Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math. Now, with more grant funding, she said she expects to reach 30 students, expand the reach of the club and take students to Allentown’s DaVinci Science Center for some hands-on learning.
- Allentown School District Foundation has awarded Teacher Innovation Grants every year since 2010
- The checks are capped at $1,200
- Twenty-three projects across the district are being funded for 2023
In her application Solis said the grant funding was important for her students because hands-on STEM education (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) was severely scaled back during COVID-19 pandemic. Solis said she plans to actively recruit girls to participate in the club, as they are underrepresented in STEM fields and programs.
Foundation members are traveling to schools within the district this month presenting winning teachers with large cardboard checks. The foundation has awarded a limited number of these grants each year since 2010. The amount of each grant goes up to $1,200.
“Every year the foundation gives over $20,000 away. If we had more funding, we would be able to give even more grants.”Julie Ambrose, executive director of the Allentown School District Foundation
Julie Ambrose, executive director of the foundation, said the money is distributed based on levels of funding and the merits of the individual proposals.
“Every year the foundation gives over $20,000 away,” she said. “If we had more funding, we would be able to give even more grants.”
In 2022, the foundation received 38 applications. It funded 23 projects across 13 schools for a total of $26,180. In 2021, the foundation gave out 17 grants to teachers across all grade levels district-wide. Ideas from last year included creating a greenhouse at Dieruff High School, a sensory tool library at Dodd Elementary School to help students self-regulate emotions and a healthy cooking program for students with autism at Washington Elementary School.
Ambrose said some programs like the district’s science fair started off with innovation grants. Connor Hughes, assistant principal of Union Terrace, said he won an innovation grant a few years ago while teaching autistic third and fourth graders at Ritter Elementary School. He said his winning proposal was to set up a school-wide store that his students could operate, learning life and career-readiness skills. The grant money went to purchasing items for the store like backpacks and pencils, which students could buy using “Ritter bucks.”
“We got a lot of feedback from teachers and staff on the progress that it had for the students,” Hughes said. “It was motivational for the students and our students loved working the store.”
A district spokeswoman said the Ritter store is still active at the school. Other programs like the Poetry Club at Dieruff High School also began as a Teacher Innovation Grant. The decade-old program, I Am On a Bookshelf, where kids can become authors, also started from a grant proposal.
Ambrose says they depend on donations from the community to help fund the program. A project was named for donors who contributed at least $1,200 to the Foundation for Teacher Innovation Grants. Smaller donations were combined to fund the remaining grants.
