EATEL’s “Reach-a-Kid, Teach-a-Kid” grants $5000 to Ascension Parish teachers
Grants awarded to ten Ascension Parish teachers to fund a variety of creative classroom-based programs for students of all ages
Gonzales, La. – EATEL is delighted to announce the winners of the 2021 “Reach-a-Kid, Teach-a-Kid” grants program. The season of giving is upon us and ten Ascension Parish teachers will each receive a special gift – a $500 grant to fund inventive classroom curriculums for K-12 students.
Through this annual grant program, Ascension Parish teachers are encouraged to think big and outside the box – submitting their grant narratives and ideas online via EATEL’s “Reach-a-Kid, Teach-a-Kid” portal. Teachers applying for funding are asked to share an idea to expand or create educational opportunities offered during the spring semester. This year, more than 500 students across ten classrooms will benefit from EATEL’s “Reach-a-Kid, Teach-a-Kid” grants.
“These grants are amazing examples of teachers creating unique and powerful opportunities to encourage and engage students,” said Josh Descant, CEO of REV Broadband – the parent company of RTC, EATEL, Vision Communications and VENYU “The learning innovations revealed within these teachers’ grant applications were all inspiring and are a reassurance that our young scholars are in excellent hands.”
“We are grateful for our outstanding teachers who continually strive to enhance student learning and community partners like EATEL who make classroom innovations possible. Ascension Parish is the ultimate beneficiary of these teacher grant programs,” said David Alexander, Ascension Public Schools Superintendent.
“These educators are exceptional at thinking up interesting and new ways to interact with their students,” said Monika Arnold, Community Relations and Business Development manager. “All of the applications are strong contenders with great initiatives. Narrowing the choices is critical and judging can be difficult, but our teammates at EATEL enjoy reading through and rewarding this community’s well-deserving educators.”
Covering a large spectrum of students of all ages and abilities, this year’s winners come from all over the parish. Winning programs ranged from creating mini libraries for little learners to challenge their minds, crafting calm down centers for those who need a moment to catch their breath and mapping out math problems with a fidget fix known as Pop-its! Some applicant-educators focused their energy on English Language Arts (ELA) while others leaned on the experiential elements, metrics and health sciences of cooking. Science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) projects continued to be popular and supported creative learning through Micro:bits, computer sciences and paleontology/fossil kits.
- Abby Jones – “Reading Powers Activate!” (Lowery Middle School)
- Amanda Martinez – “Rock It! Pop It! Polka Dot It!” (Lake Elementary School)
- Brinsley Nunez – “Let’s Get Cooking!” (East Ascension High School)
- Carla Babin – “All the Right Ingredients” (Gonzales Middle School)
- Cassie Millet – “Little Learners Imagination Libraries” (Sorrento Primary School)
- Jennifer Dixon – “Get on Board with Great Behavior!” (Bluff Middle School)
- Melanie Guillory – “Hooray for ELA!” (Spanish Lake Primary School)
- Melinda McCleskey – “Supporting Future Computer Programmers with Micro:bits” (Galvez Primary)
- Michelin Bertin – “What Do the Fossils Say?” (Prairieville Middle School)
- Rachel McDowell – “Creating a Calm Down Center” (Central Middle School)
For over 20 years, EATEL’s “Reach-a-Kid, Teach-a-Kid” program has made awards totaling over $100,000 – opening the doors to creative thinking for K-12 students and teachers. Past grants include funding everything from new classroom technologies such as hardware and software, an American Girls’ reading club to building and launching rockets and more.
For more info on EATEL’s Reach-a-Kid, Teach-a-Kid teacher grants program, please visit: https://www.eatel.com/community/grants/reach-a-kid-teach-a-kid.
About REV Broadband
Established in 2020, REV Broadband is the parent company of RTC, EATEL, EATEL Business, Vision Communications and VENYU. The combined company serves as Louisiana’s largest telecommunications network with over 2,790 miles of fiber and nearly 400 employees serving more than 60,000 customers. In addition, the company also operates VENYU, a premier provider of cloud hosting, data center and data protection services. VENYU operates a network that spans coast to coast with data centers and partners in Louisiana and across the country.