FUTURES Foundation Announces Superintendent’s Most Creative Mini-Grant Award Recipient

FUTURES Foundation for Volusia County Schools named this year’s recipient of the Superintendent’s Most Creative Mini-Grant Award during a Nov. 7 celebratory program at Atlantic High School in Port Orange.

South Daytona Elementary School Teacher Dorothy Featherston received the annual Superintendent’s Most Creative Mini-Grant Award for her project “Beauty and the Reef”  This grant project will start with a multimedia lesson that will incorporate audio visual instruction as well as direct instructions about the Florida coastline and the coral reefs. Student will be able to see and touch different types of coral, shells, and ocean salvaged items. Students will be challenged to engage their current knowledge of the ocean and hypothesize what could endanger the ocean. Finally, using various materials, each student will create their own version of a coral reef.

In addition to being honored at the event, FUTURES Foundation presented Ms. Featherston $250 in recognition for her creativity in addition to fully funding the grant which was sponsored by Rue & Ziffra. This year’s mini-grant sponsors also included Peter Begalla & JPB Consulting Group, BRPH, Cobb Cole Law Firm, William & Linda Cuthbert, Daytona International Speedway & NASCAR, Duke Energy, Florida Health Care Plans, Florida Power & Light Company, Heart of Volusia, Hukill Family Foundation, Indigo Dental, Jean Greenlaw Children’s Literature Mini-Grant Program & Stetson University, Latitude Margaritaville Daytona & Minto Communities, Launch Credit Union, Persimmon Hollow Woman’s Club, Susan C. Reichel, Rue & Ziffra Law Firm, Security First Insurance and Paul & Dr. Rosaria Upchurch.

Nine additional projects were recognized for their creativity including: Laura Combs,
“The Amazing Art Race,” Chisholm Elementary; Sue Connell, “Connell’s Cute Cooking Coconuts,” DeLand High; Christopher Cramer, “Let It Gogh,” Southwestern Middle; Tracy Graham & Randal Preston, “Claymation Kids Take 2,” Indian River Elementary; Kristen Gregor, “The Lit Gourd,” New Smyrna Beach High; Kayleen Hernandez-Garay & Tamra McLellan, “Math & Architecture for 5^th Graders,” Discover Middle; Samantha Hughes, Christopher Broomall & Jason Triboletti, “STEAM TEAM Machine Animatronics”, New Smyrna Beach Middle; Jacqueline Ouellette, “Give a Hoot About Reading and Science”, Champion Elementary; and Beth Vanderkooi, “Full Steam Ahead!”, Timbercrest Elementary. These recipients received an award certificate.

This is the ninth year FUTURES Foundation is using an online teacher mini-grant portal to assist local teachers obtain the resources they need. The portal, www.FindItFundItFlorida.com/Volusia, was created to provide teachers with a way to secure funding through crowd sourcing their ideas and provide students with opportunities they would not have otherwise. Through this platform, teachers can request funding for a variety of projects and donors may fund them, either fully or partially, with 100% of contributions going directly to the posted project by using the “Fund This Project” button. Teachers can also promote their projects through their own social media networks. As a 501(c)(3) non-profit, donations to FUTURES Foundation for these teacher Mini Grant requests may be tax deductible; please consult your tax advisor.

From June to Sept. 15, Volusia County teachers submitted 279 grant requests totaling more than $222,167. FUTURES Foundation and its sponsors were able to fund more than $75,000 to 150 Volusia County teachers and/or teacher teams during the Nov. 7 Mini-Grant Celebration hosted by FUTURES. An additional $35,000 in funding will take place after Thanksgiving through the generosity of a donor who wants to remain anonymous. The public is encouraged to visit www.FindItFundItFlorida.com/Volusia to view these creative, innovative grants and assist local teachers in finalizing funding for their projects. The columns may be easily sorted by clicking on each header and funding takes place by using the “Fund This Project” button.

FUTURES Foundation’s vision is “All Volusia County Public School Students are equipped and prepared for college or career success” and its mission statement is “We engage business and civic leaders to promote and achieve educational excellence for Volusia County Public Schools.”  For more information about FUTURES, please visit www.FUTURESVolusia.org or contact Executive Director Shimene Shepard at 386-255-6475, ext. 50730, or sashepa1@volusia.k12.fl.us.