In 2025-26, $120,000 was awarded to support 57 grants for 30 schools across the district – grants that are helping students engage with learning, challenge themselves academically, and find the spark of lifelong learning.

Hands-on making is in full swing. At Options Secondary, Jami Nelson's Wednesday STEM Craft Kits elective has students building and creating new and unique creations. Down the hall, Heather Spragins' 3D Pens project has students deep into planning, designing, and troubleshooting with filament and design mats, building executive functioning skills that are showing up in their other classes, too. 

At Littleton Academy, Heidi Henkes' Hands-On Science Labs grant has become a weekly fixture, with students now building chain reaction machines, wiring LED flashlights, and assembling robotic hands to get a real feel for how energy, light, and mechanics work. In Transition Services, Kim Cuthbert's Weight and Resistance Training grant has equipment getting steady use, with students building workouts that fit their own schedules and interests — and picking up a little confidence along the way.

The grants are having a big impact outside of the classroom! At Euclid Middle School, Emily Burkhardt's Community Garden grant has grown from an idea into a running gardening club. As students plant, paint, and tend their garden, they have transformed a science project into a community space. At The Village ECE, Colleen Lagneaux's Mud Play for All grant has smocks, waterproof boots, and storage now in daily use, making room for the kind of messy, exploratory play that builds confidence early. Nearby at The Village, Danielle Greenleaf's Music on the Playground grant has added music along the bike track, giving every child a way to play, regardless of ability. 

Other grants are opening doors to new forms of self-expression. At Voyager, Jamie Malone's Videography Equipment grant has students now working with professional lights, stands, costumes, and set pieces for a class that earns both language arts and performing arts credit — and several say it's given them a whole new appreciation for what goes into the films and shows they watch.

Months into the school year, these grants are doing exactly what they were meant to do: giving educators room to try something new, and giving students a reason to look forward to it. 

None of this would be possible without you—our generous donors and community partners. Thank you for believing in public education and the power of inspired teaching and learning.