Superintendent Shepherd proudly announces that seven Floyd County teachers have received grants including one $5,000 grant from the 2021 Rising Sun Initiative through the Kentucky Future Farmers of America Foundation (FFA) and 11 Appalachian Renaissance Initiative (ARI) KVEC Innovation Grants. Each ARI application received $700-$1,000 each with some teachers receiving multiple grants.
Shepherd comments, “We’re excited to have teachers who push themselves and go beyond expectations. These individuals come from all levels and have some amazing ideas for projects that will engage their students. Their applications must focus on a challenge and another part is that they have to identify and support innovation.”
The Floyd County teachers who received grants are as follows:
Duff-Allen Central Elementary ($3,716.97)
Cindy Artrip - Interacting with Art
Mahealani Wilson - Bulldog Weekly
Brandi Slone - 2 grants, Sustainable Learning and Making Sense of Reading
John M Stumbo Elementary ($711)
Lucy Davis - Poppon’ with Phonics
Floyd County School of Innovation ($4,975)
Bobby Isaac - Build It, Use It, Appreciate It: Creating Our Own Workbench
Cortney Kidd – Amp Up Engagement with Breakout Rooms
Manufacturing Young Entrepreneurs
Out of the Box Engineering
Why it Matters: A Look into Real-Life Biology
Justin Smith - Mountains of Produce: Raised Bed Gardens
In addition to the ARI grant, Justin Smith from FCSI received a $5.000 Rising Sun Grant from the Kentucky Future Farmers of America Foundation (FFA). With this grant, Justin plans to fund the schools’ FFA with attire, regional and state events and camp. This grant will also fund raised bed gardens for plants, chicken coops and supplies and an owl pellet dissection kit. All funds go toward enriching the local FFA chapter and enriching the classroom experience for students.
Shepherd concludes, “When teachers apply for grants, they are going beyond expectations for them. They are usually so passionate about a project that they will put additional time and effort into grant writing so that they can have materials or supplies for a lesson or project. And when your teacher is that passionate about their subject, it spills over to the students. I hope that each of them invites us into their
classes to see their excitement and what challenges our students are using innovative thinking and skills to overcome.”
