Mini-Grant Awards

In December of 2001, the Indian Prairie Educational Foundation presented 14 mini-grant awards totaling $11,513. These awards bring the total mini-grants funded by the Indian Prairie Educational Foundation to more than $143,000 and 210 different projects since the program’s inception in 1989.

December 2001 Awards

The December 2001 grants were presented to the following individuals for projects as described below:

Clow Elementary School
"Paw Prints Book Publishing Center" 
Joanne Hebenstreit
Supplies and awards will be purchased to promote students as creative writers and illustrators. Fifth graders will serve as editors.

Fry Elementary School
"Multi-cultural Visual Arts Resources"
Joan Mills
Multi-cultural art prints and teaching resources will be purchased.

Kendall Elementary School
"Math Masterminds and Skill-building Center"
Kathryn Schulte and Mary Gsell
Games and supplies will be purchased for use by students in kindergarten through third grade, both in the classroom environment with the assistance of parent volunteers, as well as an extra-curricular math club.

Patterson Elementary School
"Publishing Patterson Poets"
Susan Stewart
Poetry books, many authored by poets for whom the Ashbury subdivision streets are named,  and supplies will be purchased for students in third through fifth grades to study. The students will then create and publish their own works of poetry.

Wheatland Elementary School
"Strategic Games Enrichment Program"
Debbie Edwards
Chess sets and other similar mind-challenging games will be purchased for the school's problem-solving/enrichment program. The program will begin with chess instructions for the students.

Welch Elementary School
"Make the Math Connection"
Cindy Dornbos, Cindy Weber and Amy Sheets
Resources and supplies will be purchased to hold a school-wide family math night. Through the use of 13 interactive display stations, parents will learn of the new methods and techniques utilized to teach math in today's environment.

White Eagle Elementary School
"The Green Thumb Club"
Ron Zeman, Lois Johnson and Maureen Dehler
An after -school club will be established for students in third through fifth grades to learn and experience first hand the tasks involved in caring for our environment. Gardening and landscaping supplies will be purchased and used in conjunction with a school-business partner who will oversee the projects and lend their expertise.

Young, Fry, Steck, and Georgetown Schools
"Fiddlers Philharmonic Assembly"
Sarah Lenhart
In addition to hearing assemblies at the four schools, orchestra students will have the opportunity to perform two pieces with the guest artists. The experience of hearing and actually playing with a professional group could well inspire our own student performers to new heights.

Granger Middle School
"Integration of Geometry, Navigation and Technology"
Dave Smith
With the purchase of two navigation sextons and global positioning systems, eighth-grade geometry students will be introduced to "real-world" applications of navigation. Students will better understand the relationship between math and technology.

Gregory Middle School
"Depression Era Interviews"
Tim Higgins
Eighth graders studying the Great Depression will conduct interviews with adults who lived through this period. With the assistance of NCTV, the interviews will be recorded in professional studios to be shared with all and preserved for posterity.

Neuqua Valley High School
"Vacuum Veneering Technology"
Dan Hohman
Materials will be purchased so students can be introduced to vacuum veneering, one of the newest and cutting-edge woodworking processes used today.

Neuqua Valley High School
"Remembering Pearl Harbor: A Tribute to the Armed Forces"
Judi Rath and Kathleen Pope
A local military re-enactment group will present their perspective on and answer questions about the attack. This will take place during the four lunch/option periods on December 7, the 60th anniversary of the attack. All students will be invited to participate.

Neuqua Valley High School
"Determining the Mass of an Electron"
Mike Kennedy, Nicole Burt, Bart Carbonneau, Suzanne Martinez and Paula Mueller
Chemistry and physics students will jointly conduct the Millikan Oil Drop Experiment that won Robert Millikan the Nobel Prize in 1923. Students also will conduct the Charge to Mass Ratio Experiment hands-on for the first time.

Waubonsie Valley High School
"Newtonian Blasters"
Alison Swanson
Students in the Introduction to Physics and Chemistry course will apply their working knowledge of Newton's Laws, rearrange and employ math formulas to calculate the height and velocity of their rockets, then chart and interpret their results. The rockets will be constructed by the students using simple materials and their own imaginations.