Gifts Came Early to Nebo Teachers in December 2020

Submitted by lana.hiskey on

The Nebo Education Foundation meets each month at 7:00 a.m. to discuss submitted educational grant proposals for students in Nebo School District. One of the goals of the foundation is to fund worthwhile projects in the district that provide resources to enrich student learning. 

Past President Stacy Nance said, “”It's exciting to be a part of an organization that improves the learning opportunities for our kids in Nebo School District. With tremendous support of local businesses and giving citizens, the Nebo Education Foundation can provide resources to teachers to enhance the quality of education for our kids in the classroom. Everyone wins when the kids benefit.” 

Congratulations to the following teachers that continue to inspire the minds of students.
 

Springville High – Kimberly Ipson
“With the extra funds from the Nebo Education Foundation, Springville High will be able to purchase a printing press. Students at SHS have been exploring linoblocking, and other printmaking processes. Now, with the addition of the press, students will be able to refine skills and be college ready for future art classes and careers!” exclaimed Kimberly Ipson, art teacher at Springville High. “The SHS art department has grown from one teacher to three full-time teachers. We have expanded from ceramics and drawing, to Drawing I & II, Painting I & II, and AP Studio art. With more teachers, we have wanted to provide more specialized instruction to our students. I fell in love with printmaking in college, and have loved teaching students how to lino block. Without the printing press, the end results have been only okay. I am so excited to be able to have class projects to help students develop their printmaking skill. Most students are only introduced to this medium in college, so I cannot wait to help them have a head start.  
I am so grateful for community and district support in my classroom. I have been shocked over the past six years at how many opportunities are given to my students from outside support--like this grant! We can't wait to start printmaking!” 

Wilson Elementary – Carli Wright
“As an elementary counselor, so much of what I do is help students recognize, understand, and regulate their emotions and behaviors. I teach character education classroom lessons in every grade, I run multiple small groups in different grades and on different topics, and I work with many students individually, helping them with personal issues, obstacles, emotions, and behaviors. In every setting, I love to use games, books, and manipulatives to teach and reinforce the concepts I am teaching. When kids are working with their hands or seeing a visual representation of a concept, I am able to make difficult abstract concepts become a little more concrete and accessible. Sensory tools are also beneficial for helping students who are anxious or upset to calm themselves. I am so grateful that Nebo School District believes in the need for elementary school counselors for our little ones, and I am equally grateful that the Nebo Education Foundation is helping to fund some of the things I am doing for students' social-emotional wellness!  THANK YOU!!” exclaimed Carli Wright, counselor at Wilson Elementary.

Brookside Elementary – Kandice Antonino
“We will be using the reading program purchased by this grant daily! My teachers and technicians are thrilled! This means lots more high quality instruction from high quality books will be happening throughout our whole school! I just know that over the next few months we will be seeing tremendous growth in our students reading, writing, and phonics skills. Now our teachers and techs will have more materials/books and will not waste time trying to find the books they need for their lessons each day! Wahoo! This program added to the ones we already have will continue to enhance the instruction to all of our students in grades first through third. Thank you again for your support and donations. It truly means a lot to us out in the schools to know that we have people behind the scenes fighting for us, believing in us, and doing things to ensure we all feel successful -- teachers, technicians, and students alike!” exclaimed Kandice Antonino, facilitator at Brookside Elementary.  

Taylor  Elementary – Gwen Wride
Gwen Wride, instructional coach at Taylor Elementary, said, “We are so thankful for this grant!  We will use it to purchase decodable readers for small group reading instruction.  These decodable readers will benefit many students in all grade levels. With the increased focus on analyzing data and determining specific reading needs, we have learned that many students in all grade levels need additional phonics skills practice. These decodable readers will provide students with many opportunities to apply their phonics skills while reading real, interesting books.”  

Hobble Creek Elementary – Crystal Hayes
Crystal Hayes, first-grade teacher at Hobble Creek Elementary, said, “We are very grateful to the Nebo Foundation for providing Hobble Creek Elementary with a grant to purchase new headphones. These headphones will allow our students more learning opportunities in their Nearpod, iReady, and Seesaw lessons. In these lessons they will watch and learn from amazing interactive videos and activities. We are also excited to utilize the headphones by having students use their headphones for Starfall and Epic. Students will also have the opportunity to create videos on Seesaw which allows them to record their voice to narrate their assignments. The educational opportunities will be endless with these new headphones.”

Springville High – Wynter Ogilvie
Wynter Ogilvie, math teacher at Springville High, said, “I will be using the grant to buy 35 calculators for my classroom. I have tried to have students bring their own, but usually they forget or just use their phone. Phone calculators do not have the functionality that we need for high school math.  My plan is to attach the calculators to the desks so that each student can use the calculator when they are in class or taking tests. Thank you so much! I really appreciate it!”

Maple Mountain High – Kristie McMurdie
“Today I received wonderful news! The Nebo Foundation approved a grant I wrote for Maple Mountain High School to purchase a Swivl Cam. With the Pandemic, we have seen a great shift in how our students receive instruction. It has been very time consuming to create videos that the students will watch. The videos have been difficult to hear and sometimes the work being done on the board gets cut off. It is a lot of time to spend with the output being subpar,” stated Kristie McMurdie, special education teacher at Maple Mountain High. “The Swivl Cam is a unit that holds your electronic device while you wear a microphone. It will follow your voice and video your movement as you speak and are moving back and forth and around the room. Other products I have reviewed cost much less but do not have the mic/sound capabilities that Swivl has. This unit will be housed in our library for all of our teachers to check out and use as needed.  So many of our students will benefit from this technology!  This means so much to me because of the different populations I connect with. Not only do I teach Resource Math classes but I have been over the Math Credit Recovery at MMHS.  It is difficult to give the instructional time that so many different students need.  I am hopeful I will be able to create videos with adequate instructions and excellent audio for students to access as they are working to recover lost Math credit.”

The Nebo Education Foundation continues to need funds to give these worthwhile learning grants. Anyone interested in donating to Nebo District schools, classes or programs can do so through the Nebo Education Foundation which is a 501 (c) (3) organization created to bring businesses and donors together for the benefit of Nebo District school children.  Your contribution is a tax deductible charitable gift as provided by law. Contact Lana Hiskey at 801-354-7400, email lana [dot] hiskey [at] nebo [dot] edu or mail to 350 South Main, Spanish Fork, UT 84660. 

#BeTheMagic #DiscoverPowerWithin #NeboHero #NeboSchoolDistrict #StudentSuccess #EmpowerStudents #EngageStudents #FocusOnStudents #LoveUTpublicSchools #UtPol #UtEd #ThankATeacher #LoveTeaching

Attributions
By Lana Hiskey