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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Menu Guide Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us November 28, 2005 Foundation grants broaden horizons Independent group raises thousands for projects at schools By Jennifer Squires Ashland Daily Tidings Dressed in the handmade, traditional clothing of the Huichol Indians of the Mexico’s Sierra Madre Occidental, Rosendo Carrillo de la Rosa answers questions from eighth-grade students at Ashland Middle School on Thursday afternoon. The native Huichol and tribal shaman talks about living without electricity and six hours from other villages. He explains where their water comes from and how his people grow all of their own food. While the students pose questions in English that teacher Gladys Contreras translates, they glue colored seed beads to palm-sized designs. AMS teacher Katy Yeoman met Rosa while he was working on an installation at the San Diego Zoo and thought he would be great way to enhance the school’s Spanish language program. Over the course of a week, Rosa introduced the beading project to them and the hundreds of other students at AMS enrolled in Spanish courses. “It’s been so cool,” Yeoman said. Katelyn Walker, left, and Dashiel Moyers , both 13, watch as Rosendo Carillo De La Rosa does bead work at Ashland Middle School. Photos by Denise Baratta | Ashland Daily Tidings Rosa’s journey to Ashland from Mexico, along with supplies for the student projects, were funded by one of the 19 Ashland Schools Foundation impact grants doled out this fall. ASF, which started in the early 1990s, donated about $280,000 to the Ashland School District this year through Impact Grants, schoolwide Signature Grants and district-level Education Support Grants. The foundation collects most of the money during its annual spring fundraiser, then applies for grants to augment that revenue. “As long as there’s funding, the grant committee doesn’t like to turn people down,” ASF Executive Director Susan Bacon said. The money supports programs the school district cannot afford to offer, including visits from artists like Rosa, or adds to an existing budget, such as the theater, music and art programs at Ashland High School. Teachers at Helman Elementary School received money to teach second- through fifth-graders how to knit after an impact grant a year ago allowed a couple classes to practice the skill. At Walker Elementary School, ASF contributed to a folk music program for kindergartners. Without the foundation, “we would be more drab,” AMS Principal Dale Rooklyn said. “The ASF funding helps us in so many ways, not only in terms of the impact grants and the Signature Grants, but also they help us buy textbooks and fund our health teacher.” Teachers can apply for ASF Impact Grants just after classes begin in the fall or after winter break, and the foundation doesn’t limit the number of times a teacher or a program can be funded. For example, AHS anatomy and physiology teacher Mark Miller has been given money more than once to enhance his class. Miller purchased miniature models of a human skeleton and clay to avoid using animal cadavers to teach anatomy. Now students create the muscles of the body and construct the human muscle, vascular and lymphatic system on the model. Ashland Schools Foundation Grants The following projects are among the $11,622 awarded in impact grants for the 2005-06 school year: Ashland High School Asian Culture Experiences — All students will learn to eat with chopsticks. Students will learn how to navigate on the Tokyo subway system. 55 students benefit; $141. Una foto vale mil palabras — Students will use inexpensive digital cameras to document their daily lives and expand upon classroom topics. They will then share the images with their classes in PowerPoint presentations and slide shows, which they will narrate in Spanish. 450 students benefit; $360. Watershed Education Weeks — Watershed Education Week will introduce students to their watershed through in-class comprehensive presentations and class discussions followed by several field trips that include macroinvertebrate collecting, chemical water testing and storm drain stenciling. 100 students benefit; $480. Ashland Middle School Africa: Roots of Rhythm — New African drums will help World Music students learn West African drumming rhythms. Particular emphasis for the sixth grade team, Las Estrellas, which is studying sub-Saharan Africa. 125 students benefit; $720. Butterfly Garden — The project involves planning and installing a large butterfly garden on the AMS campus. The garden will then be used on an ongoing basis, by the entire school to study botany, ecology, art, biology, math etc. 135 students benefit; $760. Helman Elementary School Another Stitch in Time — Three teachers were able to teach their classes to knit. last year. This year, the goal to to continue knitting with those children, allowing them to become teachers of non-knitters. Knitting, and its impact on learning was so well received by children, parents and the community, that we are now expanding our grant request to include second through fifth. 220 students benefit; $673. Walker School Arts and Crafts in American History — Our study of American history will be enhanced by creative hands-on experiences common to early Americans. Types of activities will include braiding rag rugs, making cords, creating fire, traditional stitching, and toy making. 48 students benefit; $1,000. “I think the grants, they invigorate teaching and I think they stimulate student learning, too,” Rooklyn said. The high school and middle school both tapped out their allocated impact grant money for the year, although the foundation is working to find additional funding that could be offered to teachers at those schools. “This year we had more grants applied for at the high school and middle school levels in the fall round than we’ve ever had,” Bacon said. Bellview Elementary School and Willow Wind Community Learning Center did not apply for their grant money this fall, but plan to for the spring semester. For more information about the Ashland Schools Foundation or how to help, contact the foundation at 482-8197 or [email protected]. Staff writer Jennifer Squires can be reached at 482-3456 x 3019 or [email protected]. 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