Education Foundation to award $93,894 in grants at Wednesday ceremony

As part of its “Making the Critical Difference” campaign, the Oak Ridge Public Schools Education Foundation will award more than $93,000 in grants to Oak Ridge teachers at a ceremony this Wednesday, May 20.

Oak Ridge alumni and WBIR Anchor Moira Kaye will be the featured speaker at the event for what she has described as her career’s “last personal appearance.” The ceremony is open to the public, and it will be held in the Oak Ridge High School cafeteria beginning at 4:30 p.m.

Demonstrations and displays of some of the projects and technology funded by the Foundation will be given after the formal ceremony.

The 2015 grant recipients are as follows:

• Glenwood Elementary—Amelia Bell, Lauren Blair, Gwen Harrell, Terri Lloyd, and Marlene Sumner
• Linden Elementary—Lisa Downard, Norma Franco, and Nancy Witick
• Willow Brook Elementary—Linda Bell, Chris Bruce, Lynn Draper, Andrew McDonald, and Deborah Nall
• Woodland Elementary—Barbara Krushenski, Kathy Sanderson, and Lynn Tschaplinski
• Jefferson Middle School—Emily Haverkamp, Heather Henderlight, Chris Layton, and Brian Smith
• Robertsville Middle School—Michelle Brown, Sandra Burnette, Jackie Laney, Mardee Miller, Leigh Monger, and Michelle Scott
• Oak Ridge High School—Sharon Thomas and Elaine Vaughan

The grants program is a key component of the Foundation’s mission to support the highest-quality education for all students.

“The grants focus on empowering teachers with the tools to teach,” said Cathy Toth, chair of the Grants Committee. “By putting resources directly into the classroom, the grants enrich the learning environment and help create the conditions where inspiration, curiosity, and learning are natural outcomes. Thanks to the support of the Oak Ridge community, we have been able to fund excellent projects in every school in Oak Ridge.”

Including this year’s grants, the Education Foundation has awarded more than $665,000 in total grant funding. In 2012, the Foundation kicked off its “Making a Critical Difference” campaign. The campaign goal is to raise $100,000 per year specifically for teacher grants each year through 2017.

For more information about the Oak Ridge Public Schools Education Foundation or to make a donation, contact Jessica Steed at (865) 241-3667 or Jessica.Steed@orau.org or through the newly designed website at http://www.orpsef.org/.