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 an Oct. 28 celebratory program in the Performing Arts Center at Mainland High School.  

Southwestern Middle School History Teacher Lynette Taylor with the assistance of Suzanne Goodin received the annual Superintendent’s Most Creative Mini-Grant Award for their project “Pharaohs, Pyramids and Mummies, Oh My! Using STEM-based Centers to Uncover the Mysteries of Ancient Egypt.” The goal of this project is for students to obtain an understanding of how STEM principles helped the ancient Egyptians create a sophisticated civilization whose lasting impact is still felt today. “By participating in STEM-based centers the students will get a hands-on experience about how science, technology, engineering and math influenced how the ancient Egyptians lived,” stated Ms. Taylor.

In addition to being honored at the event, FUTURES Foundation presented Ms. Taylor and Ms. Goodin $250 in recognition for their creativity in addition to fully funding their grant which was sponsored by Cobb Cole. This year’s mini-grant sponsors also included Addition Financial; William and Linda Cuthbert; Duke Energy; Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University; Florida Health Care Plans; Florida Power & Light Company; Heart of Volusia Inc.; Launch Federal Credit Union; Mader Southeast; New Smyrna Beach Board of Realtors; Noopur Ranganathan; Rue & Ziffra; and SunTrust.

Ten additional projects were recognized for their creativity including: Tammy Ciaramella, “Gone with the Wind!,” Chisholm Elementary; Elizabeth Ditslear, Tammy Ciaramella, Lorrie Schwartz & Miranda Solms, “People and Pockets of the Past: Integrating Primary Documents and Artifacts into a Colonial America Unit,” Chisholm Elementary; Pete Dimuro, “Light On!,” DeLand Middle; Janice Schiavo, “GOOD DAY SUNSHINE! LET THE SUN SHINE BRIGHT FOR DIFFERENTIATED ART STATIONS!” Deltona Lakes Elementary; Janet Stone, “STEAMY Symmetry,” George Marks Elementary; Lorraine McLaughlin and Paul McLaughlin, “Let's Hear More Cowbell! - Making Our Own Loudspeakers,” Longstreet Elementary; Lauri Springer, “Manipulatives to Make Statistics Come Alive!,” New Smyrna Beach High; Margaret Williams, “Microscopic Morph to Massive,” Port Orange Elementary; and Leslie Casey, “Weather Wiz Kids!” at Sweetwater Elementary. These recipients received an award certificate and a classroom supply bag courtesy of 3M and Office Depot.

This is the sixth year FUTURES Foundation is using an online teacher mini-grant portal, Find it & Fund it, Volusia! 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 can 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. 9^th, Volusia County teachers submitted 225 grant requests totaling more than $163,000. FUTURES Foundation and its sponsors were able to fund more than $61,583 to more than 139 Volusia County teachers and/or teacher teams during the Oct. 28th Mini-Grant reception hosted by FUTURES. 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.