Selco Community Credit Union Awards Learning Grants To 11 Central Oregon Schools

A total of 61 educators representing 56 schools across Oregon, including 11 from Central Oregon, have been awarded more than $53,000 as part of SELCO Community Credit Union’s annual SPARK! Creative Learning Grants program.

SPARK! Creative Learning Grants are designed to support teachers with creative classroom ideas but lack the funds to get those projects off the ground. Individual grants of as much as $1,000 each are awarded to K-12 educators across the 27 Oregon counties that SELCO serves.

“SELCO launched the SPARK! Creative Learning Grants program more than 30 years ago, and year after year we’re struck by the innovative ways Oregon’s educators spark their students’ thirst for knowledge,” said Craig Carpenter, SELCO’s senior vice president of lending and business banking. “The SPARK! program was created to support new and meaningful ways to reach students, and it continues to be successful in that mission. As a credit union founded by educators, championing teachers and students will always be an important part of what we do.”

This year’s recipients include 11 programs from nine Central Oregon schools:

Sticker & Decal Printer Computer — Linzie Harris, Bend Tech Academy at Marshall High School, Bend
Introduction to Medical Careers: The Apprentice Doctor — Becky Horst, Caldera High School, Bend
Sustainable Hydroponic Window Gardens — Colin McCusker, Cascades Academy of Central Oregon, Bend
Graphing Calculators — Heather Bussmann, Summit High School, Bend
Building Capacity: Teaching students the art of welding for a practical purpose — Heather Stueve, Trinity Lutheran School, Bend
Finger Skateboard Maker — Josh Pikop, Caldera High School, Bend
Empowering Tomorrow’s Biotechnologists: Lab Coats for High School Students — Laura Gemignani, Caldera High School, Bend
Mobile Makerspace — Simone Morris-Martin, Desert Sky Montessori, Bend
Overcoming Obstacles in PE — Keri Rahi, Culver Elementary School, Culver
Hawks Gear — Brooke Berry, La Pine High School, La Pine
Exploration Stations — Ashley Hawkins, Barnes Butte Elementary, Prineville

A complete list of statewide recipients and project descriptions can be found HERE.

The committee’s goal is to fund innovative projects that will make the most significant impact on students and the greatest opportunity to leave a lasting impression.

This year’s recipients include Colin McCusker, a teacher at Cascades Academy in Bend, who is using a SPARK! Grant to help fund the “Sustainable Hydroponic Window Gardens” project — which asks students to design and fabricate sustainable hydroponic window gardens that will provide organic herbs and greens to the school’s lunch program.

For more information on SELCO Community Credit Union’s SPARK! Creative Learning Grants or to follow the progress of some of the grant recipients, visit www.selco.org/spark.

This story is based on submitted information and has not been verified by our news team.

This article appears in Source Weekly November 16, 2023.