Group funds projects to stimulate young minds
Members of the Humble I SD Education Foundation are delivering the tools to help students succeed in school.
The organization began in 1999 when a group of parents began seeing state budget cuts in the public schooling system.
“The parents didn’t want Humble ISD to lose the things they believed made Humble ISD so great,” said Jerri Monbaron, director of Humble ISD Office of Community Development .“They didn’t want to lose those fun enrichment projects that really engage students; so, they created the foundation to raise funds for those innovative creative projects.”
The foundation is funded by donations from teachers and parents, as well as businesses and members of the community.
The nonprofit operates on about a $1 million endowment, providing scholarships, campus funding and various initiatives to schools in the district.
The Innovative Education Grants initiative is one program funded by the foundation.
District educators develop annual proposals to claim a portion of a $250,000 grant.
A group of community members in the organization reads all proposals and decides on allocating the funds based on “what would build the biggest impact” for long-term success, said Monbaron.
Janie Hodge, a reading and language arts interventionist at Oaks Elementary, obtained a $2,000 grant for The Whispering Wonders program at
the school at 5858 Upper Lake Drive in Humble. Whisper phones
The program uses Whisper phones, which are plastic headsets that act as voice amplifiers to help kindergarten through second grade pupils in language arts.
The devices allow the child to whisper into the headset.
The sound is amplified back into the child’s ears, helping teach volume control and speech enunciation.
Many children enjoy using the phone to help them gain confidence in reading questions to themselves and focusing on the content of the question.
“I like when I’m in class and how everybody is using them and it doesn’t seem as loud, it just seems like people are more focused with their books instead of just fake reading,” said fifth grader Vivienne West, who has been using the phones for two years. “I really like reading out loud but quietly.”
The grant has provided enough money for every pupil in the reading and language arts classes to have access to a phone. Word recognition
Some teachers have seen an increase in word recognition and overall more student engagement during classes.
Maura Hanley, a thirdgrade teacher at Oaks Elementary, said the program has helped to “increase comprehension” and “fluency of the text” for beginning readers.
Whispering Wonders phones are only one of the teaching aids the Foundation has funded.
Hodge has been able to get grants for the school for new headphone replacements as well as computer equipment for children’s labs and classrooms, aux- iliary materials and microphones. Everything pays off
Hodge also is a campus liaison for the Education Foundation at the school.
She has fostered a 98 percent donation participation rate from the employees to the foundation and is a great believer in the organization.
“Our administration and district has made a huge commitment to a belief that our students need to have access to materials that make it easier for them,” Hodge said.
“I donate everything that I can to the foundation because I believe it is truly worth every penny,” she said.
”Everything that they give us pays itself off.”