Junior League Awards Grants to 6 PH Teachers
The Junior League of Dallas gave 51 Dallas ISD teachers awards of up to $2,500 through the annual Grants for Innovative Teaching program.
Education is one of the league’s six focus areas, so it started the program 12 years ago to empower local schools and students.
“Hopefully, it will inspire students,” said Emily Sommerville, president of the JLD. “You never know where that spark of inspiration will come from.”
Sommerville said she hopes the grants will help teachers approach subjects a student might not have been interested in, in new ways that will spark interest.
Six of these educators work in Preston Hollow:
Ward Coats, Thomas Jefferson High School, “Structure and Functions of the Master Regulators of Pancreas Development”
Coats’ grant will directly impact 64 high schoolers by giving them a new research perspective on the structure and function of proteins. Participants will present their research at the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology convention, with the goal of helping students acquire full-ride scholarships.
Deborah Tubbs, K.B. Polk Center for Academically Talented & Gifted, “Literacy in Hand”
Tubbs will use her grant to impact 20 elementary students by offering take-home activities to empower parents of deaf or hard-of-hearing children to support their child’s literacy skills with reading and phonics work.
Efrain Rivera, Benjamin Franklin International Exploratory Academy, “Art and Technology Applications”
Rivera’s funding will introduce 80 to 85 seventh and eighth-grade art students to digital art. His goal is to bring drawing tablets to class to show students another endeavor available to them.
Kacie Ingram, Thomas J. Rusk Middle School, “Forever Healthy”
Ingram’s project, available to 20 sixth-to eighth-grade students, is designed to help them make healthy choices on a budget. Materials will include workout gear and a visit to SPARK, an indoor industrial playground for students that provides lessons tied to state standards.
Jeannette Sambucetti, Prestonwood Montessori at E.D. Walker, “Learning with Bots”
Sambucetti’s grant will serve 28 kindergarten through third-grade students by using Ozobot (small programmable robots) to teach the basics of programming, using STEAM, and integrating core subjects in the gifted classroom.
Maria Fernandez-Guiterrez, John J. Pershing Elementary, “Break a Leg!”
Fifteen third-through-fifth graders will be impacted by Fernandez-Guiterrez’s grant, which will empower the drama club and allow students to put on a puppet show for lower grades to build on social and communication skills while improving self-esteem.
JLD distributed $111,000 this year to encourage excellence in areas such as STEM, arts and culture, reading/literacy, diversity, and special education.
“The Grants for Innovative Teaching Committee is in awe of the level of innovation, uniqueness, and inclusivity that each of the educators so passionately brought to the table,” said Kiki Gao, 2022-2023 Grants for Innovative Teaching chair. “Due to the innovative projects that are designed by these educators, at least 8,100 Dallas ISD students will be directly impacted this school year.”
