The Salina Education Foundation's focus is on creative and innovative project-based grants.  Why project-based? Students are active, not passive; a project engages their hearts and minds and provides real-world relevance for learning. Students not only understand content more deeply but also learn how to take responsibility and build confidence, solve problems, work collaboratively, communicate ideas, and be creative innovators.

Scott Chrisman and Dustin Dooley, Lakewood Middle School and South Middle School. All district 7th graders will participate in Salina’s Cultural Crawl. Students will visit arts and cultural locations in Salina and learn about our community's unique arts and cultural experiences.

Katie Lidgett, USD 305 Libraries. In 2025, all elementary school libraries will participate in the Book Break Author Visit program. These virtual author visits create excitement among students and enhance their reading experiences.  

Elizabeth Burke, Salina South. Salina Speaks will be a project where students explore storytelling’s role in our community. Through field trips to libraries, museums, and The Rabbit Hole, they’ll research, create, and share a local story in varied formats, fostering connections through community storytelling. This project blends fieldwork, digital storytelling, and community engagement, letting students collect, create, and share local stories creatively. 

21^st Century Advantage Grants: 
Support creative and innovative classroom projects. 

Lindsay Carlson, Central High School. The CHS Book Club will offer selections addressing diversity, equality, and inclusion. Expanded maker space activities allow students to utilize creativity and critical thinking skills. This project offers a variety of interactive activities for students to utilize in which they can collaborate and interact, building a positive community and sense of belonging. 

Jennifer Kay-Higgins, South Middle School.  This grant would provide a variety of activities for our students to engage their brains, enhancing classroom learning. By adding more STEM activities, students will be able to interact with technology geared toward preparing them for future careers, and give students a chance for self-directed learning. Funds would purchase Snap Circuits, Cubelets, and a Sphero BOLT + Power Pack.

Elizabeth Kinion, Lakewood Middle School.  LMS Library has maintained a Makerspace for several years. This year, we are purchasing a 3D Printer, so this would supplement 3D Printing. We also offer many other creative and team-building outlets, and the other items would add to student choice for Makerspace. In this request, we are hoping to purchase a variety of filament colors to supplement our new 3D printer that will soon arrive. We are also hoping to purchase games and building supplies to add to our Makerspace so that students have a wide variety of choices to continue to create and think.

Shelly Parks, Block Fun.  Block play lays the foundation for STEM learning. With blocks, young children learn about building principles, engineering, and physical science properties during hands-on experimentation. When accessories are included, there is more opportunity for pretend play and social development. This purchase would replace the 'garage sale finds' currently in use. There are also accessories such as figures, animals, and vehicles to enhance the block play.

Lindsay Radiel, Stewart.  3rd-5th Gr. students will play math games as a fun and engaging way to practice math skills and to challenge students who would benefit from extra math enrichment. Students will learn a more advanced way of coding using coding robots that respond to specific colors. The robots can be screen-free or with screens. Students will practice math skills, critical thinking, problem-solving, & more.

Crystal Weishaupl, Sunset.  This project adds flexible seating to boost focus, collaboration, and comfort, creating an engaging, student-centered classroom for success. It would transform learning with flexible seating, enhancing focus and engagement through student choice and movement-friendly seating options.

Mandy Ediger, Lakewood Middle School. Our student needs have changed for the ALC/vocational program. Our classrooms need resources to provide more of a structured teaching environment with regulating strategies that are at their social, emotional, and academic level. We strive to support students innovatively by embracing structured teaching and modalities for our lowest learners to express themselves.

Darcee Redden, CKCIE. We are requesting the purchase of 30 LessonPix licenses that would allow CKCIE autism/behavioral specialists, instructional coaches, occupational therapists, speech-language pathologists, and special education teachers to create visual supports for our students/teams.

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2024-2025 Grant Awards

Outside the Box Grants: 
Rewards creativity aimed at expanding students' understanding of their community and the world.

Scott Chrisman and Dustin Dooley, Lakewood Middle School and South Middle School. All district 7th graders will participate in Salina’s Culture Crawl. Students will visit arts and cultural locations in Salina and learn about our community's unique arts and cultural experiences.

Jenna Eshleman, Meadowlark Ridge. Flat.i.io licenses will be purchased for 5th-grade music students’ Chromebooks. This composition software will allow students to hear and receive instant feedback on the music they compose and allow teachers to correct errors in real-time.

Katie Lidgett, USD 305 Libraries. In 2024, all elementary school libraries will participate in the Book Break Author Visit program. These virtual author visits create excitement among students and enhance their reading experiences.  

Stephanie Turowski, Coronado. Text to Speech tools will be provided for special education students considered ‘non-readers.’ These will give students more independence and help our students to learn more independently on any assignment.
 

21^st Century Advantage Grants: 
Support creative and innovative classroom projects. 

Elizabeth Burke, South High School.  South High’s library has received two grants for 24-25. The first is the fantastic opportunity for a ‘common read’ - a book that all students and staff will read and be able to participate in schoolwide activities. The second grant allows the library to continue its Future Ready Library programs, including the “Overbooked Book Club.” Students in the club will receive their own copy of the books selected for discussion and then engage in a book-related activity. 

Melinda Eitel, Stewart.  Send-home games are designed for students to take home to practice reading and spelling for their grade-level district sight words. There will also be supplies and activities for math games to build skills at home. 

Jamie Hoff, Cottonwood and other schools. Students in 3^rd-5^th grade who qualify by reading more than 20 William Allen White Award-nominated books will travel to Emporia to take part in the awards ceremony. They will meet the award-winning authors and tour White’s former home, Red Rocks.

Shannon Jones, Central Kansas Cooperative in Education. A preschool prop box checkout system will have six differently-themed creative play prop boxes. These boxes will be available for checkout for all eight preschool classrooms. 

Shelly Parks, Central Kansas Cooperative in Education.  Grant funds will purchase fine motor material for young children to help increase their muscle strength and provide activities to help with fine motor development so that children will be more prepared for writing.

Carrie Pierce,  Central Kansas Cooperative in Education. The funds will expand student learning by providing developmentally appropriate equipment for preschool students with special needs. Outdoor play is beneficial beyond the physical activity it provides. It helps them practice social skills, understand their bodies better, and engage in imaginative play.

Lindsay Radiel, Stewart.  Reading intervention and math enrichment supplies will be provided for 3rd-5th grade students. Math students will be able to solve real-world problems through STEM activities while also practicing several math skills they have learned. 

Guillermo Rodriguez, Central High School. The Yamaha HD-300 Harmony Director is a valuable tool for music educators. It offers powerful ear training and makes class time more efficient by providing several capabilities in one device. The Harmony Director is a newer tool that has improved traditional music classes.

Sarah Shelby, Stewart. An Explorers Live Museum will come to life as 5th-grade students will be asked to demonstrate their learning by choosing an explorer to research and creating a "live museum" to present their knowledge. 

Joan Barhydt Special Education Grants: 
Benefit students receiving special education services.

Kendra Baumberger, Coronado. VB-MAPP is a program designed for children with autism and other students with language delays. It is used in the FLC classroom to help with motor skills, listening, and learning to play.

Brooklyn Bradley, Oakdale. The Expanding Expressions Tool Kit will be used during speech sessions to increase children's expressive and receptive language abilities. Spark Cards will also help improve children's sequencing, problem-solving, and language abilities.

Kim Fulkerson, Central Kansas Cooperative in Education. The grant funds will provide a set of carbon fiber foot plates available to trial with our special education students who exhibit persistent toe walking. Carbon fiber foot plates are a newer alternative treatment for toe walking worn inside the shoe.

Kayla Reid, Sunset. Funding will help create an environment in the speech room that supports Universal Design for Learning (UDL). This project will impact speech students from Pre-K through 5th grade by supporting and providing access for students who learn differently.
 

To contribute to these funds, or any other funds held at Salina Education Foundation, or to establish your own fund, please contact Kate Lindsay at 785-309-4729.

Total SEF Grant Funding for 2024-25:  $28,100.00

2023-2024 Grant Awards

The Salina Education Foundation's focus is on creative and innovative project-based grants.  Why project-based? Students are active, not passive; a project engages their hearts and minds and provides real-world relevance for learning. Students not only understand content more deeply but also learn how to take responsibility and build confidence, solve problems, work collaboratively, communicate ideas, and be creative innovators.

Outside the Box Grants: 
Rewards creativity aimed at expanding students understanding of their community and the world.

Recipients:
Katie Lidgett, Sunset Elementary.  Students will be allowed to select a new book to add to their personal home library for their birthday. The books will include a special label to commemorate the event.

Jenna Eshleman, Meadowlark Ridge.  Flat.i.io licenses will be purchased for 5^th grade music student’s Chromebooks. This composition software will allow students to hear and receive instant feedback on music they are composing. It also allows teachers to correct errors in real time.

Kiersten Dykes, Central High School. Ceramics students will participate in a full day workshop at the Fire Me up Studio located in Topeka, KS. The grant will fund studio fees, meals, and bussing for up to 30 students.

Kevin Poland, South High School. History students will read Tasting History and Edible Tour of Humanity, then collaborate with Culinary Arts students to create menu items to explore culture and history through food. 

Gina Turner, Meadowlark Ridge. Students in 3^rd-5^th grade who qualify by reading more than 20 William Allen White Award nominated books will travel to Emporia to take part in the awards ceremony. They will meet the award winning authors and tour White’s former home, Red Rocks.

Scott Chrisman & Dustin Dooley, Lakewood Middle School & South Middle School. All district 7^th graders will take part in Salina’s Culture Crawl. Students will visits arts and cultural locations in Salina and learn about the unique arts and culture experiences offered in our community.

21^st Century Advantage Grants:
Support creative and innovative classroom projects. 

Elizabeth Burke, South High School.  South High’s library will continue its Future Ready Library programs including the “Overbooked Book Club.” Students will receive their own copy of the 7 books selected for discussion then engage in a book related activity. 

Nikki Chamberlain, South High School & South Middle School.  Advanced learners will engage in creative problem solving projects related to technology and social emotional development. One lesson will challenge students to learn about circuits and create a lighted thank you card to send to a person who has impacted their lives.

Elizabeth Kinion, Lakewood Middle School. The Maker’s Space in the library will receive new games and other supplies to encourage students to be creative, social and develop team work skills. 

Shelly Parks, Central Kansas Cooperative in Education. Specialized books will be purchased to benefit children on the autism spectrum. These books feature components for children to manipulate as they are being read to.

Jamie Hoff, Cottonwood. The library will host monthly STEM activities for students in all grades. Funds will be used to purchase STEM related toys, activities and other materials for students to use during their structured library time.

Gina Turner & Katie Lidgett, USD 305 Libraries. All elementary school libraries will collaborate for an in person author visit in 2024. Students will travel to a central location and interact with the author by asking questions to learn about the process of writing and reading books. 

Joan Barhydt Special Education Grants:
Benefit students receiving special education services.

Lauren Turner, Coronado. Students will benefit from have a sensory area within their classroom, which will include different types of tools and equipment to assist them in soothing their sensory needs.

Angela Botz, Central High School. Special education staff at Central High will engage in a book study to improve their skills. Staff will then develop the tools needed to teach students executive functioning skills.

The Salina Education Foundation's focus is on creative and innovative project-based grants.  Why project-based? Students are active, not passive; a project engages their hearts and minds and provides real-world relevance for learning. Students not only understand content more deeply but also learn how to take responsibility and build confidence, solve problems, work collaboratively, communicate ideas, and be creative innovators.

Outside-the-Box Grants reward creativity aimed at expanding students’ understanding of their community and the world.

Recipients:
Ralita Cheeks-Salina Virtual Innovatin Academy
Funds requested will be utilized to transport 100 fifth grade students to KWU for their first ever college campus visit. Additionally, materials such as notebooks will be purchased for the students to document their experience. 

Aimee Holgerson-Meadowlark Ridge
Funds will be utilized to purchase picture books and related role-play sets to encourage dramatic play related to stories. Students will develop social and emotional wellness skills while using improve, flexibility and negotiation skills.   

Scott Chrisman-Lakewood & Dustin Dooley-South Middle
Funds requested will provide bussing for all 7^th graders to the Salina Downtown Culture Crawl. Students will visit arts and cultural locations and learn more about what is offered in their community. They will eat lunch and enjoy a performance by cash hollistah.

Gina Turner-Meadowlark Ridge
Funds will be utilized to transport third through fifth graders to Emporia for the annual William Allen White Award ceremony. Each student receives a copy of the winning book, and tickets are purchased for students to attend the ceremony and visit the WAW boyhood home.

21st Century Advantage Grants support creative and innovative classroom projects.
Lisa Hall-Meadowlark Ridge
Funds will purchase Passage to Comprehension guided reading materials. Materials are utilized in group reading instruction that is tailored to students’ individual reading levels. 

Elizabeth Burke-South High School
Funds will be used to continue South High’s Future Ready library programs and book club. Students will participate in programs which support the curriculum of collaborating teachers, conduct a book club, and take part in hosted events with visiting local artists.

Elizabeth Kinion-Lakewood Middle School
Funds will be used to purchase new 3D Pens to replace the existing 3D pens which have served their useful lifespan. Maker’s Space is a popular area of the library used by students before school and during regularly scheduled library visits. 3D pens are one of the more popular items in the Maker’s Space.

Bridget Crow-Sunset Elementary School
Funds will be used to create 4 Creative Play Tubs to be shared among all 4 Kindergarten classrooms at Sunset. Children will develop social and academic skills through dramatic play with career focus. 

Lindsay Radial-Stewart Elementary
Funds will be used to purchase Math & Reading Board Games for students to use during Guided Reading and Small Group Math. Students will be actively engaged in reading and math learning during times the teacher is engaged in individualized and small group lessons.

Carrie Pierce-Central Kansas Coopertaive in Education
Funds requested would be utilized to purchase dramatic play equipment for the preschool classrooms located at Hageman Education Center.

Larry Cullins-Central High School
Funds requested will allow advanced art students to design and create screen printed t-shirts to incentive younger artists’ improvement at Central High.  

Shelly Parks-Central Kansas Cooperative in Education
Funds will be utilized to serve children with developmental delays. The grant would support the purchase of toys, blocks, puzzles to assist in the development of fine motor skills, academic and dramatic play skills, an and life skills.

Jill Howard-Meadowlark Ridge
Funds will purchase flexible seating options for students. Additional seating options allow children to control where they sit and who they sit by which encourages student engagement and empowerment in the classroom. 

Deena Hilbig-Meadowlark Ridge
Funds will be used to purchase new items for the SEL-Sensory Room at MLR.

Sheila Shaffer-Central High School
Funds will be used to purchase new carts & tracks for physics students to use while conducting experiments at their classroom workstations.

Lesa Landauer-South High School
Funds will be utilized to purchase skill development boxes in the vocational skills training lab at South High School.

Salina Education Foundation has allocated funds to support fieldtrips  for the 2023 school Year.  

Joan Barhydt Special Education Grants provide support for students receiving special education services. 

Christina Flax-Stewart Elementary
Funds will help create a Sensory Area within the Special Education classroom. Funds would be used to purchase toys, tools etc. to assist children in regulating behavior while in the special education area of the school.

Jennifer Svaty-Schilling  
Funds will be utilized to purchase multi-sensory tools to help students develop and strengthen their vocabulary skills.

Brandon Befort-Coronado                
Funds will be utilized to purchase beginning reading resources for K-2 Special Education students to assist them in achieving their IEP goals.   

The Salina Education Foundation's focus is on creative and innovative project-based grants.  Why project-based? Students are active, not passive; a project engages their hearts and minds and provides real-world relevance for learning. Students not only understand content more deeply but also learn how to take responsibility and build confidence, solve problems, work collaboratively, communicate ideas, and be creative innovators.

Outside-the-Box Grants reward creativity aimed at expanding students’ understanding of their community and the world.

Recipients: 
Gina Turner, Meadowlark Ridge
Students who read a required number of books will travel to Emporia to meet the authors who win the William Allen White Children’s Book Award.  With Mrs. Turner’s encouragement, many students read 20 or more WAW books during the course of the year.  While in Emporia, students will also visit the White home (Red Rocks), drive past the Emporia Gazette, which White owned, and visit Peter Pan Park, the land White donated to the city of Emporia.  Students from other schools who read the required number of books will be included in this wonderful trip.
 
Elizabeth Burke, South High
South High library will continue to promote curiosity and a love of learning through the Overbooked Book Club and “Make and Take” events which are designed to promote life-long learning and engagement in community service.  The innovative nature of the library‘s programming encourages both students and staff to collaborate and enhance their learning experience.  The goals are to continue the twice-a-month book club meetings and host daily and monthly programming activities to increase student and staff involvement with the library.

21st Century Advantage Grants support creative and innovative classroom projects.
 
Recipients:
Michelle Ramsey, Cottonwood
Cottonwood's third grade classrooms will receive a set of pre-made manipulative kits desigend to allow kids to discover and engineer. Bins include task cards and a teacher guide which encourages students to create structures, problem solve and think divergently.

Lisa Hall, Meadowlark Ridge
Students will utilize materials to support instruction in the areas of phonological awareness, language comprehension, decoding and phonemic awareness. These tools are utilized to implement early interventions to prevent dyslexia and reduce some special education placements.  
 
Margy Hogarty, Meadowlark Ridge
School children will engage in acticities designed to ignite their imaginations and creativity, while developing technology, science and engineering, and math skills. Students will develop lifelong problme solving skills and increase their analytical skills.  
 
Karla Arpin, CKCIE
Physical Therapists will purchase and assemple a vertical stander conversion kit to assist students who cannot stand on their own or walk independently. Students will use the equipment to gain control of their own mobility in an upright position and develop the freedom to move about their learning environments  independently. 
 
Shelly Parks, CKCIE
Preschool children will have access to new puzzles to utilize upon their arrival in the classroom. Puzzles allow the children to utilize their innate curiosity and desire to work independently to achieve success. 
 
Eddie Creer, South High
Students will be taken from any point in their development in musicianship to higher levels of proficiency.  Using the cloud-based software suite, “musicfirst,” students can access three programs:  Sightreading Factory, PracticeFirst, and Classroom.  Each of the three programs helps to develop a student’s musicianship and mastery of many fundamental concepts, allowing Mr. Creer to delve even deeper into the concepts while differentiating instruction.  Vocal solos and guitars will particularly benefit from the programs.
 
Samantha Moran, CKCIE
Assistive Technology Department staff will purchase a 3D printer so that they can create adaptive and modified learning aids. The 3D printer will allow staff to design and print tools specific to student's individualized needs rather than purchase a general tool that need to be modified aftermarket.  

STUCO Activities, South Middle, South High, Lakewood Middle and Central High
Each secondary school's STUCO will receive a $400 grant to support activities which benefit all students in the school. 

Elementary School Libraries, 
Each elementary school library will recieve a $400 grant to purchase books or equipment to enhance the experience for its students.  
 
Total SEF Funding for 2021-22:  $28,400.00