GUSD teachers receive nearly $16,000 in grants
Fourteen Glendale Unified School District applications involving 21 teachers were given grants totaling just under $16,000 by the Glendale Educational Foundation recently.
In a ceremony during a school board meeting, award winners were presented certificates of achievement with funds promised to be dispensed soon.
Clark Magnet, Crescenta Valley, Glendale and Hoover high schools, along with John C. Fremont, La Crescenta and Valley View elementary schools and College View School, all had at least one award recipient.
“Our goal is to raise money for every student, every school and distribute it back into either health and fitness, science and technology or arts and music,” said Eric Hamilton, the foundation’s president and a Hoover graduate.
Hamilton said the idea to create the teacher scholarships was the brainchild of Elsa Chagolla, the foundation’s executive director. There were 36 applicants this year.
As for Tuesday evening, no school won more than Hoover, which had four entries selected.
The Tornadoes teaching trio of Homa Javidan, Christine Kim and Justin Stadel earned a grant for their project titled, “Universal Studio’s Special Effects Lab and Integrated Classroom Lesson.”
Former Glendale News-Press staffer and current Hoover teacher Edgar Melik-Stepanyan was also awarded a grant for a leadership meeting and a trip to Occidental College as were Gina Brownstein for a ceramic sculpture and the duo of Robbie Myles and David Huber for a program called “The Play’s the Thing.”
College View teachers Yula Perez and Jesus Vega received a team grant for their life skills program, while fellow College View instructor Rachel Staab received an individual award for music education.
At La Crescenta Elementary, Lisa Zohrehvand and Yvonne Quinonez were awarded a grant for their fourth-grade musical theater performance project, and Catherine de la Paz received a grant for a program called “Lights, Camera, First-Graders in Action.”
At Valley View Elementary, Jodi Fitzgibbons and Cheryl Hamel were given a grant for a proposal titled, “A First Class Education: The Whole Child,” while Elizabeth Neskovska and Kathy Barnett were also winners for transitioning young students into becoming scientists and engineers.
Other grant awardees were Breanna Hutchinson at Clark Magnet High, Mathew Schick at Crescenta Valley High, Amy Rangel at Glendale High and Sheri Aiken at Fremont Elementary.
“The teacher grant program has given me an opportunity to enhance educational services and instructional activities that will enrich my students learning environment,” Hutchinson said.
“From this grant, students will be able to actively engage in a non-traditional game called Speed-a-way that combines soccer, football and basketball,” she added. “That will encourage students to stay healthy and physically active throughout their life [and] in addition, to become knowledgeable and competent in motor skills and movement patterns and create interpersonal relationships that display positive communication.”
The funds provided by the Glendale Educational Foundation are supposed to supplement educational activities and items such as projects, field trips, supplies and kits.
The grants range from $500 to $1,000 for single applicants.
“I will purchase a class set of jazz ‘Real Books,’” said Schick, whose selected proposal will introduce jazz standards to students in jazz band and through the use of Real Books. “These books are considered the Bible of jazz standards and will help our students gain an understanding of the jazz standards. Professional musicians use these books when at gigs because they are a compilation of virtually every great jazz chart.”
The $15,771 awarded is slightly more than was the $15,000 originally intended when Hamilton opened the application process in August.
To date, the foundation has donated more than $3 million for programs and projects in Glendale Unified.
