Sixteen WCPS teachers get classroom grants
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on November 7, 2014 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/MELISSA KEY
From left, Gretchen Jeffers, U.S. Cellular agent sales and development manager, and Traci Cline, retail store manager, congratulate Donna Lee, eighth-grade science teacher at Eastern Wayne Middle School, on receiving a donation of new technology for her classroom.
Sixteen teachers in Wayne County Public Schools received $8,388 to fund classroom projects from the U.S. Cellular "Calling All Teachers" program.
Educators have long accessed the public website "Donors Choose" to elicit donations to pay for projects and materials not included in shrinking budgets.
This is the fourth year U.S. Cellular has worked with the site, funding $138,023 for 268 teachers across the state.
The local donation of $8,388 will be divided among the chosen 16 teachers at 11 schools and benefit 824 students, officials said.
Representatives from the company made a stop Thursday at Eastern Wayne Middle School to congratulate one of the recipients, Donna Lee, an eighth-grade science teacher.
"I'm floored. This is wonderful," Ms. Lee said.
Her request had been for a document camera, which connects with a computer and overhead projector. But it came with a hefty price tag, $950.
She proudly demonstrated it for her classroom guests.
"You can actually use my microscope, my little portable one, with it," she said. "For this school, it's very high-tech.
"It just gives you a chance to see things. When I have my back to the board and I have to explain things, I can't do it as well."
Ms. Lee said she was so excited when the package arrived a month ago, she came out to school on a Saturday to put it together. She said she has been enjoying incorporating it into her science classes, as well as a reading class she teaches.
"It actually has a lot of capabilities that I have not explored yet," she said.
Jeremy Taylor, U.S. Cellular's director of sales for eastern North Carolina, said it was good to see firsthand how the money is being used.
"The kids love it. The other teachers are jealous," Ms. Lee said with a laugh.
Taylor talked with Ms. Lee about other classroom needs and ways to partner in the future.
"We're always looking at ways to give back," he said. "I was just trying to find any opportunity where we could help further."
Earlier in the fall, teachers across the U.S. Cellular coverage area posted classroom projects that covered a variety of topics, including language and literacy, math and science, music and the arts, health and sports and special needs. Thirty-five percent of the projects funded in North Carolina dealt with technology.
Other local recipients, who were notified earlier, included the following:
* Carver Elementary: Literacy and language teacher Robin Casey, $198 for "Raising up Readers!"
* Carver Elementary: Literacy and language teacher Stephanie Jones, $409 for "Table Talk"
* Carver Heights Elementary: Literacy and language teacher Christine Smith, $754 for "Mags to Riches"
* Carver Heights: Special needs teacher Penny Ragan, $809 for "Bringing Language to Life: Enhancing School Speech Therapy"
* Carver Heights: Math and science teacher Kristin Bartley, $531 for "Namaste: Tapping into the Light Within to Foster Success"
* Eastern Wayne Elementary: Literacy and language teacher Mia Heath, $198 for "Making Words with Play Doh"
* Eastern Wayne Elementary: Applied learning teacher Sheila Rollins, $539 for "Wigging Our Way to Listening"
* Fremont Stars: Math and science teacher Jennifer Cooper, $370 to fund "Great Bears Come with Great Responsibility"
* Grantham: Math and science teacher Carolyn Bolling, $914 for "ISNs: A Year in the Life of a Sixth Grade Math Student"
* Grantham: Literacy and language teacher Elizabeth McDaniel, $413 for "Send Us a Reading Lifesaver!"
* Northeast Elementary School Shari Davis literacy and language $208 Let's Get Interactive in School!
* Rosewood Middle: Literacy and language teacher Darlene Debruine, $180 for "Bookmaking for a Child"
* School Street: Literacy and language teacher Mary Maurer, $365 for "Apple TV to Assist the 21st Century Learners"
* Spring Creek Elementary: Literacy and language teacher Debbie Turner, $552 for "Touch My Way to Learning"
* Wayne School of Engineering: Math and science teacher Susan Randolph, $992 for "It's a Wild, Wild World of Physics!"