Good news from EdTech students around the country.
Robin Watkins’ project last semester in Technical and Grant Writing was funded, and when I started asking a few questions, I learned more good news. Two students in the fall class wrote successful grants, as well.
This past semester, Watkins, an M.E.T. student who operates a small web design/multimedia company called Whatever Media in Hampton, Virginia, asked WomensNet.net to help her create a summer technology camp for at-risk girls.
WomensNet.net provides informational support and small quarterly grants for women in business. Watkins’ WomensNet.net granted $500 to help provide equipment and promotional printing so Watkins can teach at-risk pre-teen girls about web design, programming, multimedia production, and video game design using open-source software.
Last fall, Michelle “Shelly” Jenkins, an elementary school technology teacher in Teton County, Wyoming, won a $5,000 grant from Lowe’s, the home improvement retailer, to build a pergola in her outdoor classroom and to install solar lights in the school’s garden shed.
A pergola is an open-sided structure with overhead rafters for shade and often has grapes or other vines growing up the legs and across the rafters. You can see a conceptual drawing of Jenkins’ pergola and pictures of the gardening work she’s doing with her students at the school’s web site— http://tetoncountysd.wy.schoolwebpages.com/education/components/layout/default.php?sectiondetailid=17752&linkid=nav-menu-container-4-34275 >.
Also last fall, Shane Wheeler, an M.E.T. student in Van Meter, Iowa, competed against 76 other grant writers to win part of $50,000 in grants offered by telecom giant Qwest Communications. Wheeler’s proposal was funded at $10,843 to develop an initiative in technology development and marketing for high school students. The grant will buy text books in C+ programming, game design, iPad and iPod programming, and marketing strategies. The grant will also buy apps needed by student developers.
Wheeler’s grant writing skills competed against 76 other educators to win 21 percent of Qwest’s grant pool. “I couldn't have done it without your class and help,” he wrote in an email to EDTECH 551 instructor Janet Worthington.
