Empowering Educators: Grant Awards Recognize Outstanding Teachers
The Education Foundation of the Summit awarded $66,650 in Eileen Finkel Innovative Teacher Grants. Projects funded included hands-on science, career and technology education, and more. All schools and grade levels in Summit School District benefitted.
Teachers were thrilled with the support and responded:
“This is so exciting! I know the resources will be extremely beneficial for my students.”
“Thank you so much for the great news! I feel really honored to receive it and I can assure you it will make a difference in my students’ learning opportunities.”
“This is the best news ever on a snowy weekend! I am so excited to ramp up my health curriculum.”
A few of the awards included:
Elementary Schools
Melissa Mahlke, Dillon Valley, Animals and their Habitats. Severe-needs students will work in pairs to create aquariums in which they can observe and write about the life cycles of mosquito fish, mosquitos, blood worms, and snails.
Sara Devlin, Frisco, and Jen Leslie, Upper Blue, Reading and Math Games. The games will reinforce literacy and math skills, promote communication skills, healthy competition, and a chance for children to understand how others think.
Mar Damiá Pau, Silverthorne, Spanish Resources for English Learners.
Darby Proctor, Summit Cove, Sky Dome Planetarium. All grades will go on a tour of the solar system through the universe in a portable, inflatable planetarium that will come to the school.
Kelley Fletcher, Breckenridge, Hands-on Learning. Using local resources available for hands-on workshops through organizations such as (but not limited to) Breck Create, Mountain Top Explorium, and Denver Zoo.
Summit Middle School
Nicholas Clements, VEX robotics tournament registration for four teams and equipment. Ali Subasi, Computer Lab Upgrades.
Brenda Thompson-Leffler, SMS Broadcasting video equipment.
Snowy Peaks Jr/Sr High School
Nathan Schwalen, STEAM Design Thinking & Hands-on Science materials for multiple, diverse activities and projects with an emphasis on concrete science learning activities, design thinking and collaborative work.
Megan Meek, Inspirational Mosaic Mural in which students work as a group, and individually, with the end result of having a beautiful piece of art work they get to see and share with the community around them.
Summit High School
Andrea Kubick, bringing health to life with experiences using life-like 3d models, simulators, and displays.
Joe Kassay, Outdoor Education Field Experiences in practicing leadership and backcountry navigation skills. The skills developed on Outdoor Education trips will be transferred to students in the Silverthorne Elementary outdoor education program.
For the full list of awards please click here.
Over $120,000 was requested by teachers this year. Please help us support Innovative Teacher Awards by donating on Colorado Gives.
About the Eileen Finkel Innovative Teacher Awards
Each fall, teachers request support for their ideas through the Eileen Finkel Innovative Teacher Award grant process. Principals and Parent-Teacher Organizations partner with the Education Foundation to review and fund the requests. The awards are also made possible through funding from The Summit Foundation, F Cubed Foundation, and Town Grants from Breckenridge, Silverthorne, Frisco, and Dillon. The Innovative Teacher Award was created in 2011 to honor Eileen Finkel, a longtime educator, who strongly supported the innovative and creative ideas of teachers that help enrich educational opportunities for children.
About Education Foundation of the Summit
EFS is dedicated to supporting the public school students and teachers in Summit County by:
- Encouraging creativity through the Eileen Finkel Innovative Teacher Awards
- Growing enthusiastic readers with Innovative Reading
- Strengthening partnerships with school parent-teacher organizations and the community
- Supporting students and new teachers with scholarships
- Challenging learning in STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math).