Nathan Yip Foundation: Community encouraged to donate to local teacher grant requests – Greeley Tribune

Weld County residents can donate to make teachers’ dreams for their students come true through Oct. 11.

The Nathan Yip Foundation has listed more than 200 rural teacher grant requests people can support during a three-week online fundraiser, according to a foundation news release. These include requests from teachers at all levels in several Weld County school districts including Eaton RE-2, Weld RE-3J, Weld RE-5J, Platte Valley RE-7, Weld RE-8 and Briggsdale RE-10.

The foundation aims to address the educational inequities between rural and urban schools. Teachers use these grants to provide opportunities and experiences that might not otherwise be possible for their students.

Grants can be used for anything that positively impacts students, for example, new materials, programs or an outing to expose students to something new.

Eaton High School has six requests from teachers, which include supporting theatrical lighting, covering registration fees for the career and technical student organization DECA, repairs and restorations to band instruments and the purchase of wireless displays for the video program.

Two teachers also need materials and equipment for hands-on learning in horticulture science and animal production classes.

In total, 203 students at Eaton High School are enrolled in the agricultural education department, 27 of whom participate in the horticultural sciences and greenhouse production class. Industry-standard technology, like tools that test soil pH, conductivity and dissolved oxygen, would better prepare students for careers in horticulture, agronomy and related fields.

The animal production funding proposal would allow students to conduct advanced experiments like testing cellular respiration and light spectrums. This will provide them with experience for future careers in agriculture and related industries.

Eaton Elementary School’s one funding request focuses on services for students who need “language acquisition skills, support for special needs and low-income families.” The school has 25% of students with a significant reading deficiency.

Funds would help students become more fluent readers through decodable books with controlled text. The funding will cover the purchase of 10 books each, six different levels with six different titles.

A Briggsdale teacher seeks funding to support special education populations like English language learners, special needs students and gifted education. Briggsdale School, a K-12 school with about 70 students, is in its first year of educating students with severe needs.

The teacher requires basic necessities, including a refrigerator for teaching cooking and food-sorting skills, groceries for teaching household chores and sanitary supplies like toothbrushes and toothpaste. The teacher also wants to adopt a curriculum and acquire resources through funding.

Platte Valley High School in Kersey requires kiln furniture — equipment put inside a kiln to increase capacity when firing — in visual arts classes. This funding would ensure a quicker turnaround and improve the efficiency of the ceramics program.

At the middle school level, a teacher at Platte Valley Middle School wants to provide a choice-based studio, a one-day studio where local artists workshop with students. Funding will purchase supplies and provide thank-you gifts to the artists who participate.

Teams from Platte Valley’s elementary and middle schools also requested funding for a project to allow two teams, one from the elementary level and one from the middle school level, to participate in Destination Imagination. Destination Imagination is a regional tournament where students develop solutions to project-based science, technology, engineering and math challenges and present them live at the event.

Preschool teachers at Platte Valley Early Learning Center asked for more “dramatic play items” for the center and more toys and curriculum materials to enhance social-emotional learning.

In 2023, the Nathan Yip Foundation funded 69 teacher grant requests. The foundation hopes to fund as many of the 2024 fundraiser requests as possible.

To view the full list of Weld County teacher requests or to donate to a dream, go to e.givesmart.com/events/E1y/i.