2006-07 Grants

Thanks to the generous gifts of our many donors, the OEF was able to award many grants in 2006/07!
Grants awarded in the fall of 2006 include:
  • $1,000 for Cornell Elementary School art Teacher Heather McNeilly to assist with purchasing a new kiln. The existing kiln was nearly 40 years old and was firing inaccurately and becoming unreliable. The new kiln, which features a digital control panel, arrived just recently and students and teachers are looking forward to its installation.

  • $1,000 for Okemos High School teacher Colleen Palmer to purchase a projector to work in conjunction with a tablet PC to enhance lessons through easy access to pictures, Internet and textbook multimedia for Advanced Placement biology students and other biology students. The projector is already in operation, incorporating Internet sites and software. Animations that are available on the Internet help teach difficult concepts such as DNA replication and protein synthesis. Students are able to visualize molecular biology with the use of rich graphics and 3D animations.

  • $1,000 for Okemos High School teachers Kortney Whitmyer and Chris Smith to purchase a projector for use in social studies classes.

Grants awarded in spring 2007 include:
  • $500 for Okemos High School teacher Grace VanderVliet to purchase two classroom sets of “The Memory Keeper’s Daughter” for the Contemporary Literature class.

  • $850 for Kinawa Middle School math teachers to purchase SmartView software to integrate graphing calculators with Smartboard lessons.

  • $1,000 to help offset the purchase price of a new kiln used by the art teacher and students at Edgewood Montessori School.

  • $1,000 for Cornell Elementary School music teacher Laurie Harkema to be used toward the purchase of four sections of choral risers for the school.

  • $1,000 for Chippewa Middle School physical education teachers Jamie Ianni and Kathy Harbert to purchase an Elliptical cardiovascular machine for use in the fitness lab.

  • $1,000 for Bennett Woods Elementary School to use toward the purchase price of new video and sound equipment to produce the daily student-televised news program.

  • $938 for Cornell Elementary School teacher Amy Petersburg to purchase materials to support second grade advanced readers.

  • $977 for Cornell Elementary School teacher Jennifer Eddy to purchase materials to support third grade advanced readers.

  • $827 for Cornell Elementary School teacher Tiffany Tuchek to purchase materials to support fourth grade advanced readers.

  • $534 for Cornell Elementary School teacher Carrie McCarthy to purchase materials to support fifth grade advanced readers.

  • $2,000 for the Library Media Director of Kinawa and Chippewa Middle Schools to purchase Newberry award titles to support the sixth grade curriculum and enhance the library media center for all students.

  • $321 for Ann Rush to purchase resource books and DVD’s on Asperger’s Syndrome, available for district-wide use from Cornell Elementary School.

  • $442 for listening stations, CD players, and audio books, for language arts students of Ursula Morris, Chippewa Middle School.

  • $902 for Stacy Trumpe and other OPS teachers of the Speech and Language Impaired to purchase three Earobic software programs for their students.