Diocesan Schools, Teachers And Students Receive Local Grants

/data/news/19413/file/realname/images/p1rotarygrants152597510890648.jpg — Rotarian Beth Clark recognized the outstanding educators and principals honored at the Rotary Club luncheon held at the Tropicana Evansville Executive Conference Center on May 1. The Message photo by Trisha Hannon Smith

The West Side Nut Club, Public Education Foundation, Love Foundation and Rotary Club of Evansville jump-started the month of May by donating more than $230,000 to local schools, teachers, students and not-for-profit organizations.

Rotarian Beth Clark shared the words of K. Patricia Cross, a renowned scholar of educational research, while recognizing the outstanding educators and principals honored at the Rotary Club luncheon held at the Tropicana Evansville Executive Conference Center on May 1.“The task of the excellent teacher is to stimulate 'apparently ordinary' people to unusual effort. The tough problem is not in identifying winners: it is in making winners out of ordinary people.”

For more than 30 years, the Public Education Foundation, Rotary Club of Evansville and Love Foundation have combined forces to award classroom-enrichment grants to help local educators enrich their curriculum. In 1987, they awarded five grants for a total of $5,000. This year, they distributed 26 grants to public and parochial/private educators throughout Evansville equalling more than $25,000.

Grant recipients from the Diocese of Evansville received $7,451 to support projects focusing on computer programming language, building classroom libraries, enhancing global awareness and increasing STEM curriculum, to name a few.

Congratulations to the following winners:

Robyn Page, Annunciation Parish, Holy Spirit School, “Creating the Future One Book at a Time,” $715
Cheryl Bealmear, Corpus Christi School, “The Power of Yet!” $275
Dawn Bunner, Corpus Christi School, “Oh Snap!” $450
Kelsey Hillenbrand, Resurrection School, “Harry Potter and the Order of Operations,” $750
Jenna Lappe, Westside Catholic School, STEM Bins, $350
Amy Hassler, Resurrection School, “Grammar Glow Games,” $523
Danielle Davis and Jennifer White, Holy Rosary School, Guided Math Units and Math Stations, $1,496
Paula Bell, Holy Rosary School, “Coding with BeeBots,” $642
Karen Reising, Reitz Memorial High School, Global Village Festival, $1,500
Abby Whicker, Mater Dei High School, “Keep it Comprehensible,” $750

The West Side Nut Club held its annual Founder’s Day meeting and dinner at Discovery Lodge at Burdette Park in Evansville on May 1. Nut Club President Mark Head presented about $218,000 in donations to local schools and not-for-profit organizations. Mater Dei High School received $20,000, and (West Side) Diocese of Evansville Catholic elementary and middle schools on the city’s West Side received $32,000.

The club also provided two $8,000 University of Southern Indiana scholarships to Mater Dei High School seniors Jessica Little and Adam Wildeman.

Since the West Side Nut Club was formed in 1921, the group has given back more than $5 million to community organizations and schools.