The Anderson Family Fund for Education teacher grants officially awarded Thursday through the Community Foundation of the Virgin Islands will give educators across the territory a chance to expand various learning projects and programs in local schools.
The official presentation was held on St. Thomas at the Bertha C. Boschulte Middle School, where the science staff is looking to modernize their science labs and equipment with its $5,000 grant to build a digital science laboratory. Teachers said they are looking to launch the lab next year, after the new supplies arrive and they become familiar with the equipment.
The LabQuest 2 software being used at BCB consists of a small handheld device containing more than 30 different projects and experiments. The $5,000 will cover the cost of six tablets, and teachers said Thursday that, while they would be looking for more funding to cover the cost of additional devices, the six on hand will allow the students to work in groups in science labs already set up on the school’s campus.
This is the 12th year that the Anderson Family Fund for Education has awarded grants to teachers throughout the public schools. In total, $20,829 was awarded this year and distributed to 11 teachers from eight different schools, according to CFVI.
New this year were three $5,000 awards for collaborative school based projects. CFVI President Dee Baecher-Brown said Thursday that the larger projects were more innovative and had a greater impact on larger groups of students.
Another $5,000 winner was the E. Benjamin Oliver Elementary School, whose Student Success Project program is being headed by Assistant Principal Thelca Bedminster. The program works with kindergarten through third-grade students and gives them two hours of extra help after school.
The program keeps expanding, and Bedminster said Thursday that many of EBO’s English Language Learners and special needs students are taking advantage of the program – along with their parents, who are learning right alongside their kids.
The final $5,000 went to the Battle of the Books collaborative, which will allow staff at St. Croix’s Juanita Gardine and Charles H. Emanuel elementary schools to encourage fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders to read.
The checks were distributed Thursday by Baecher-Brown and TOPA Properties President Steve Morton, along with Acting Education Commissioner Donna Frett-Gregory.
Through the fund, CFVI this year also awarded eight individual teacher grants ranging from $470 to $1,000 for projects such as:
– BCB’s interactive learning library;
– Ulla F. Muller Elementary School’s drama club;
– a triathlon team at Muller and Addelita Cancryn Junior High School headed by Gayle Deller;
– a newsletter project at St. Croix’s Charles H. Emanuel Elementary School;
– a "Continuing the Tradition" program at Arthur Richards Jr. High School;
– and a weekend soccer program at Charlotte Amalie High School.
– Lockhart Elementary School on St. Thomas also received $800 for its Creative Artists in Action program.
The Anderson Family Fund for Education was established at CFVI in 2002 and supports a wide range of educational enrichment programs for local students that may not necessarily be part of the regular curriculum.
