(Geronimo) — Surprise visits recently turned ordinary mornings into moments of celebration in the Navarro ISD.
The Navarro Education Foundation (NEF) sparked excitement throughout its campuses with the awarding of $69,303 in classroom grants.
The NEF Grant Patrol made stops at every Navarro campus — elementary, junior high, and high school — delivering checks, and plenty of cheers.
Elizabeth Mundine, a member of the NEF board of directors, says this latest round of grants is just another contribution in the group’s ongoing effort to make sure students are successful in the classroom.
With the newest round of grants, NEF has now awarded an impressive $867,568 in total funding to Navarro teachers since its inception.
“It fluctuates depending upon the amount of corporate sponsorships and community support. We are able to fundraise each year and our major fundraisers in the fall – we have Clay Fest which we just had at the beginning of October and then, in the spring, we have Duck Fest so we have major fundraisers and depending on how those do, is how much funding we have available,” said Mundine.
From innovative literacy initiatives to hands-on STEM learning, Mundine says this year’s competitive grants reflect the creativity and dedication of teachers who work hard to ensure learning for all Navarro ISD students.
“We are excited with the different projects that the teachers and staff and faculty brought to us this year. We have programs ranging from down from the element level all the way to the high school level. We have anything from classroom transformations in our ELA which is the English Language Arts and math classrooms where they take the classroom, and they form into a theme of that project or that phase of their studies of that time. We have field trips to the Natural Bridge Caverns.
People who are challenged as far as their learning abilities physically or augmentatively, we have different devices or programs that we are going to fund to help make learning easier for them. So, we are really excited about the depth and variety of the projects that the teachers have brought to us and many of our extracurricular programs are going to see projects and funding into them as well,” said Mundine.
Support for the NEF is solicited year-round. Again, community fundraisers include the annual Duck Fest and Clay Fest. To learn more or to donate to the non-profit email navarroeducationfoundation@gmail.com.