WEF Funds Fall Grants for Westerville Schools

The Westerville Education Foundation (WEF) today announced the funding of 16 grants for innovative programs to enhance education in Westerville City Schools.  These grants invest $19,623 in projects that will reach thousands of students throughout the district.  Additional support from Alliance Data also funded $3,730 in grants targeted toward after-school programs for English Learners.  These grants are being provided separately from the WEF’s traditional Grants program. 

WEF’s 2019 Traditional Fall Grant recipients are:

• Melissa Palmore, Westerville North High School, $500 for Social Skills for today and Tomorrow:  Developing Social Skills and Life Skills for students with High Functioning Autism;

• Brandi Young, Westerville South High School, $2,835 for eBooks for (S)ELeaning;

• Kelly Ocheltree and Lexi Alza, Pointview Elementary School, $312.99 for Leadership Team Video Production;

• Anitra Simmons, Heritage Middle School, $1,500 for Husky Strong Boy’s Group;

• Anitra Simmons, Heritage Middle School, $1,500 for Husky Flexible Learning Space;

• Jenn Cole, Debbie Pellington, Kellie Sheely, Kristin Marks and Allina Green, Heritage Middle School, $1,313 for Understanding Global & Human Experiences Through Literature;

• Matt Fetrow, Heritage Middle School, $1,000 for Engineering and Design with Drones (this grant is contingent upon the teacher providing evidence of being compliant with School Board Policy);

• Rhonda Letterio and Megan Winand, Hawthorne, $992.94 for Hawthorne Hackers 3D;

• Amy Farris, Westerville Central High School, $1,694 for  Project LIT;

• Tammy Richmond and Amy Van Sickle, $267 for Nature Hop Sensory Path;

• Christine Eshenbaugh, Wilder Elementary School, $127.88 for a pair of life sized communication boards on the playground to assist speech impaired students;

• Stephanie Young-Newberry, Whittier Elementary School, $1,450 for ROX at Whittier Elementary;

• Jeffrey Miltko, Emerson Elementary School, $450.65 for Emerson Mobile Makerspace;

• Lisa Huelskamp, Debbie Pellington and Chasity Laufman, Blendon, Genoa Heritage and Walnut Springs middle schools, $2,687.68 for Westerville City Schools 6th Grade Battle of the Books;

• Lane Halterman and Drew Farrell, secondary buildings, $1,462.16 for Mobile Podcasting Stations for Student Creation (This will be funded through the Dr. George Tombaugh Fund, for district educators who are completing college coursework in educational leadership and/or pursuing their advanced degree or certification in educational leadership/administration.  Farrell is currently pursuing an administrative degree at Ohio Dominical University); and

• Dr. Scott Ebbrecht and Amy Anglin, the Academic Enrichment Center, $1,530 for De-stress and De-Compress Yoga for Students.

Grants funded by Alliance Data to support after-school programs for English Learners were awarded to:

• Amy Farris, Westerville Central High School, $780 to purchase downloadable e-audiobooks for English Language Learners for a Project LIT group she is forming.  Project LIT seeks to empower students as readers and leaders in their school and community.

• Kim Glaser, Mark Twain Elementary School, $2,000 for connecting English as a Second Language students with carefully curated books that act like mirrors and windows – mirrors reflection the pupil’s linguistic and cultural backgrounds, and windows allowing them to access different viewpoints, cultural experience, genres and content that would otherwise be inaccessible.

• Sarah Flagler, Annehurst Elementary School, $950 for EL after school homework help, tutoring and computer time.  Thirty-nine English Language Learners will be invited, as well as any ELLs who enroll or are identified during the duration of the after-school program. 

The WEF will hold a second grant cycle this school year in the spring of 2020.  Grant funding comes entirely from community contributions.  Learn more at www.westervilleeducationfoundation.com.