Teachers get checks, chocolate for Valentine’s Day
Is there a better way to celebrate Valentine’s Day than with chocolate — and a check?
Several Berks County school teachers were surprised with gifts on Thursday.
The Foundation For Boyertown Education had a busy Valentine’s Day as members traveled around to nine different schools in Berks County to deliver more than 23 grant checks and baskets of chocolate treats to schools as part of the foundation’s “We Are Grateful, You Are Loved” campaign.
“It kicked off at Thanksgiving and we visited all 10 of our buildings to announce to our teachers that we were funding a campaign to give away $10,000 in the form of four $250 grant applications in each building,” explained Alison Moyer of the Foundation for Boyertown Education. “Today we are awarding checks and chocolate totaling more than $15,000 and the program itself at the end of the day today will have given away more than $25,000.”
The campaign was started as a way to increase district internal awareness about the foundation. Teachers could apply for the grants to receive money for various educational endeavors at their schools.
Among those schools receiving grants on Thursday were Pine Forge Elementary and Colebrookdale Elementary, who received checks for projects ranging from interactive hallway designs to wax museums that engage students in history lessons.
“One of the grants that was written for our fifthgrade group was for extension of their wax museum project that they do each year. The kids do research on famous Americans from the past and they become that person. They dress up, they create posters and perform a wax museum in the last couple weeks of school and transform these hallways,” said Lisa DeRenzo, principal at Colebrookdale Elementary.
“It’s learning that extends beyond a single subject so they’re taking social studies curriculum and carrying it into their writing, carrying it into research and using their creative minds to transform the social studies curriculum into other areas,” said DeRenzo.
Teachers at both schools were all smiles Thursday as members of the Foundation for Boyertown Education came into their classrooms to distribute the checks and wish them luck with their projects.
“This is the best Valentine’s Day gift we could ever get,” said Tyler Fry, Title I specialist at Pine Forge Elementary.
Founded in 2013, The Foundation for Boyertown Education is composed of community-based volunteers and is a registered and independent, 501 (c) (3), nonprofit organization.
The foundation seeks to provide funding for innovative educational projects, enrichment programs and other educational initiatives as well as enable alumni of the Boyertown Area School District to continue involvement and support for the district and students.