Early in March, the Greene County Career Center announced that three Bellbrook teachers won nearly $10,000 in grants to study career exploration in their classes. Another local foundation, the Bellbrook-Sugarcreek Education Foundation recently announced its spring classroom grants, too.
Across the district, teachers often look for new and exciting ways to teach their students, keeping an eye on lowering the financial burden to the taxpayers.
Jenny Nickol at Bellbrook Middle School, Emily Crider at Stephen Bell Elementary and Jill Culler at Bell Creek Intermediate each were awarded grants from the GCCC based on the proposals they wrote a few months earlier in hopes of bringing more career exploration into their classrooms. Nickol, who received the largest grant – and second largest in the county – wrote her proposal centering on coding.
“The goal of this project is to prepare students for future careers by developing their coding, computational thinking, and problem-solving skills through hands-on learning with BBC Micro:bits and Code.org’s Unit 6: Physical Computing,” Nickol wrote in her proposal. “By incorporating structured classroom activities and project-based learning, students will develop critical workforce readiness skills such as problemsolving, logical thinking, and digital literacy. … ”
Career readiness is not just a focus with to introduce them to the tasks, skills, and roles associated with each career.” Jill Culler won the final GCCC grant, which will be a field trip. Her students will go to the GCCC to learn about careers and opportunities for learning when they enter high school in a few years.
That grant will cover the busing to and from the career center. our students in the middle school and beyond. Indeed, steps are being taken at the youngest levels to be sure the question of “what do you want to do when you grow up?” can be answered in a thoughtful way.
Crider’s second-grade class will also go through an immersive experience.
She wrote: “Our project will expose students to diverse career paths and industries by transforming each second-grade classroom into a different career station. Each station will represent a unique profession, ranging from healthcare and engineering to the arts, education, and public service. As students rotate through each ‘career room,’ they will participate in hands-on activities, simulations, and discussions designed Another source of funding that teachers look to year after year is the BellbrookSugarcreek Education Foundation.
The BSEF provides grants to teachers and group leaders for a number of different reasons. The most recent winners of the grants were given to the Drone Team for obstacle course equipment ($450) and timing equipment ($755), giving the three-time national championship-winning team $1,205 for the future of the group.
Bellbrook Middle School also benefited from the BSEF, as the entry fees for District and State Science Day have been funded by the BSEF in the amount of $750. Covering those fees goes a long way in making sure the annual science fair is a success. The BSEF also makes sure every seventh grade student gets to experience the Challenger Center in downtown Dayton and their yearly space exploration. That grant covers $2,000 in fees.
The final grant the BSEF approved this year was $1,000 for sensory items for Stephen Bell. That will result in crayon tubs, headphones, ADHD focused movement tools for calming, interactive sensory bins and more.