2022 Grant Winners Announced!

Springfield Education Foundation staff, Board members, and supporters visited 12 schools on June 1st to surprise 26 grant applicants with their funded SEF Grants!

These educators truly show creativity, passion, and dedication in their work, spending time and energy to come up with innovative and visionary ideas. These projects will be implemented during the 2022-23 school year, and will impact 11,684 students – more students than are enrolled in Springfield Public Schools!

Some of these projects will be utilized by students all over Springfield, like “Motor Pathways to Focus Minds”, a project proposed by Pete Martinez in partnership with Jennifer Boita, Angie Byers, and Lu Anderson, who all work in Occupational Therapy. The OT team will install outdoor/indoor sensory-motor pathways in each of the district’s elementary schools. This project will provide students a variety of opportunities to access motor breaks. “Our proposed sensory-motor pathways are designed to be inclusive of all students. The paths will include opportunities to explore spinning, jumping, pushing, and balance. These movements satisfy major sensory needs which leads to increased focus on academics.” – Pete Martinez, OT at Springfield Public Schools.

A wide variety of other programs will receive grants as well. Some will purchase new musical instruments and equipment, like “The Sound of Music” (Chelsea McKinnon, Riverbend Elementary School), “Rebuilding My Music Program” (Ana Gavrilovich, Briggs Middle School), and “Stepping Up for Students” (Jon Bridges, Springfield High School).

Various programs will focus on art, such as Andrew Hunt at Hamlin Middle School who will use his grant to give his class the chance to create and print comic books about themselves, advertising, and climate change (“Arts and Comics”). Heather Klym at Page Elementary will partner with Karen Blachly, Burdy Smith, and Katie Keeler to purchase $2,904.26 in art supplies, tools, and instructional materials (“Student Engagement Through Art”). Mary Palmer and Annelise Ostberg will partner to create a “Papermaking Art Garden” at Springfield High School.

Zane Kessler Hager at Hamlin Middle School will use his $525 IE Grant to purchase equipment to allow students to make a simple electric motor and learn about electromagnetism (“Build Your Own Electric Motor”). Sarah Heacox-Jackson at Agnes Stewart Middle School will use her almost $4000 grant to purchase a class set of Lego’s SPIKE Prime Robotics kits, replacing the 16-year-old set that is no longer compatible with the school’s technology (“Lego Robots Engage Diverse STEM Learners”).

The Paine Family’s SELF Grant will fund two projects this year. “Creating a Safe Space” by Jules Rogers at Elizabeth Page Elementary School aims to help students develop skills such as anti-bullying strategies and kindness, and “Sensory Room Project” by Kim McLennan at Hamlin Middle School will turn an underutilized room into a calming space for students with sensory-based needs.

This year, we are proud to announce that thanks to incredibly generous donors like you, we were able to fund a record-breaking $68,668 in grants! It’s because of your generosity that these educators’ ideas can come to life, and we can’t wait to share their progress with you.

Follow us on social media, sign up for our newsletter, and check out our website to receive updates about these extraordinary projects! Click below to see all grants and to read a brief summary of each project.