Good thing Santa checks his list twice.
Thanks to the Jolly Old Elf’s commitment to his craft, Nacogdoches ISD Education Foundation was able to deliver a few more allocations Thursday, closing out a tremendous year of both fundraising and providing innovative grants.
“We still had some room in the budget after last month’s allocation,” said NEF Executive Director Erin Windham. “So the board was in full agreement with going back and looking at requests that weren’t fulfilled in November.”
Accompanied by Santa and NISD Superintendent Grey Burton, Windham and the foundation’s Vice President of Programs, Monica Loa, awarded the following innovative grants:
At McMichael Middle School, Jamien Phillips $1,500 for digital cameras that will be used by his art students; science teachers Debra Phillips, Amy Duff, Shelby Hensley and Deidre Merritt $4,500 for slot car and racetracks that will be used by students in exploring calculations of speed, distance and time; and Gerald Fonzie, Heather Stidham, Suzanna Houston and Chelsi Condon received $4,500 for a high-impact tiered incentive and student leadership program promoting goal-setting, elevating academic performance and campus climate.
At Mike Moses Elementary, Monica Gryder, Tabatha Smith, Allison Grimes and Jessica Collard received $4,500 for all fifth-graders at the school to attend STEM science camp.
At Nacogdoches High School, science teachers Amy Chism, Rachel Jones and John Thompson received $4,500 for interactive hands-on watershed models demonstrating natural water systems, pollution, prevention and cleanup.