The Community Foundation of Western North Carolina recently awarded grants totaling $32,439 to Mitchell County schools from the Learning Links grant program. The grants provide local teachers with funding for activities designed to make required coursework engaging and relevant for their students.
Fifteen Learning Links grants will support projects at Bowman Middle School, Deyton Elementary School, Gouge Elementary School, Harris Middle School, Mayland Early College and High School, and Mitchell High School. The grants will fund a variety of creative endeavors such as designing tailored formal dresses, creating a cafeteria mural, and building a receiver for SSTV images from the International Space Station. Additionally, the grants will allow for students to experience field trips that serve as culminating activities for their units of study.
“The Learning Links grant program continues to thrive,” said Lezette Parks, Scholarship and Program Officer. “Teachers are constantly finding ways to engage their students. Based on the applications, the theme for this year is experiences – inside and outside the classroom. Teachers are planning creative projects and field trips that demonstrate to students that learning is exciting and impacts their lives. Students are encouraged to stay in school when they can apply what they learn in the classroom to the world around them.”
Learning Links offers grants up to $800 per classroom to public school teachers in Avery, Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Jackson, Macon, Madison, Mitchell, Polk, Rutherford and Swain counties to provide experiential learning projects for students. The goal is to increase students’ enthusiasm for learning and school. The grants are funded through the Cherokee County Schools Foundation Endowment Fund, Fund for Education, Ben W. and Dixie Glenn Farthing Charitable Endowment, Leon C. and Grace E. Luther Charitable Fund and Clyde and Mildred Wright Endowment Fund. The Dr. Robert J. and Kimberly S. Reynolds Fund and Dogwood Charitable Endowment Fund co-invested to fund the cycle. This year, 61 grants were awarded totaling $113,191.
The Community Foundation of Western North Carolina inspires philanthropy and mobilizes resources to enrich lives and communities in eighteen counties in Western North Carolina. Last year, the Foundation facilitated $34 million in charitable giving.
For more information, contact The Community Foundation of Western North Carolina at 828-254-4960 or visit www.cfwnc.org.