Three Pocatello schools gifted almost $5,000 each in surprise grant money
Three Pocatello schools were surprised with grant money on Wednesday. CenturyLink, Inc. gave around $43,000 worth of grants to 10 schools in Idaho, with almost a third of those schools being in the Gate City.
“Big shout out to district No. 25. They do an amazing job of getting technology to the students and it does speak volumes to what he district is doing here in Pocatello in getting the technology out there, and also the teachers being engaged with technology and wanting that in the classroom,” said Arleigh Smith, the eastern Idaho area operations manager for CenturyLink, Inc.
Hawthorne Middle School teacher Stephanie Moore was gifted $5,000 to go towards iPads for her students. They will allow for the students to access lessons in class and at home.
“Amazing. My students are going to benefit so much from this. I’m just so excited,” Moore said. “We need more technology in the classroom for students who don’t have the technology available to them at home. That’s what we’re going to use it for.”
The CenturyLink Clarke M. Williams Foundation’s Teachers and Technology grant program’s purpose is to get technology into the hands of the students.
“Idaho’s assets is our students and that’s where our future is. So we need to get the technology into their hands, and this is one way of doing it,” said Smith.
There were 120 Idaho applicants for this grant, and the ten grantees include:
American Fall High School (American Falls)
Supporting First Generation College Students Through Technology $4289.91
CenturyLink will assist a team of special needs teachers with the funding to purchase a Promethian Interactive White Board. This technology will give special needs students hand-on learning and expanded visibility within the classroom. The focus is to increase the student learning to develop college-bound students in 2021
Culdesac School (Culdesac)
Advancing Transportation $4227.30
In an elective transportation class, students study hovercrafts, boats, drones, submarines, rockets, airplanes trains, magnetic levitation and underwater robots. Students study each mode and create models based on their research. The grant funding will allow the teachers to purchase a vacuum former and 3D Printer to build on the science, math, technology and creativity in this class and other curriculums.
Galileo STEM Academy (Eagle)
Botball Robotics – Developing Early Coders $4,825
This grant funding will be used to purchase Botball robots to support the after school coding program and allow the program to be expanded into multiple elementary classrooms. The technology will enhance the math and reading efforts and be integrated into grades1-8
Hawthorne Middle School (Pocatello)
Flipped Classroom iPads $5,000
The Flipped Classroom is based on video mathematic lessons with the grant funding used to purchase ipads so the students are able to access the lessons in class and at home allowing for greater learning capabilities and more flexibility for the teachers to create their own videos.
Hillsdale Elementary (Meridian)
Building Scientific Minds One Brick at a Time $4,495
The CenturyLink grant will be used to purchase Brick Labs for the school. Brick Labs provide everything a teacher needs to integrate innovative, engaging and fun STEAM activities into the classroom. With a focus on engineering, physical science, life science, art and more, the applications are numerous!
Jefferson (Pocatello)
LEGO Mindstorm Educational EVE Lab $4,119.50
With the purchase of LEGO Mindstorm curriculum, the CenturyLink funding will allow students to design, build, program and test robots to do a variety of tasks. The hands-on applications will enhance the STEM focus for students in grades 1-5.
Kuna High School (Kuna)
Advanced Electronics -Magnetic Levitation $4951.88
The grant funding will be used to purchase 300 in One Electronics Project Lab and Magnetic Levitation Technology for students to have hands-on understandings and learning applications in advanced electronics to solve real world problems in the classroom.
North Star Public Charter School (Eagle)
Project Engage $1,578
With the purchase of two additional classroom ipads, the grant will allow all kindergartners in the class to access the math and language arts applications at one time. The ipads will also be used for data collection and research-based intervention practices.
Riverglen Jr. High
Traveling the World in the comfort of School $3,999.00
This grant will fund a set of 10 Google Expedition VR Kits for school-wide use. With virtual reality, students will not only feel like they are being transported around the world, but also actively engage with the experience. We will be incorporating VR into all areas of the curriculum with all grades and abilities, and using this technology to immerse students into areas of the world they are unable to visit with a field trip.
Tyhee Elementary (Pocatello)
Chromebooks for Education $4989.96
With a classroom set of Chromebooks, headphones and a charging station, the grant funding will provide students in the 4 th grade access to a world of STEAM projects, applications and multi-media learnings to build on 21 st Century skills.
