Hailey
Emporia Community Foundation: Students across Emporia Public Schools are getting exciting new learning opportunities thanks to the latest awards from the Emporia Community Foundation.
Each year, the Emporia Public School Endowment Fund offers grants to USD 253 teachers to support classroom ideas that go beyond the regular budget. These grants help teachers bring creative, hands-on, and engaging learning experiences to students.
What These Grants Are Designed For
Emporia Community Foundation: Teachers can apply for up to $750 to support projects that:
- Use alternative learning strategies
- Encourage creative teaching ideas
- Introduce innovative approaches
- Motivate students to become active, life-long learners
Only the most inspiring and impactful projects are selected each year.
This Year’s Grant Winners
Emporia High School – STEM & Art Upgrades
Emporia Community Foundation: Two Emporia High School projects received the full $750 award:
| School / Teacher | Project | Grant Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Emporia High School | Advanced glassblowing equipment | $750 |
| Emporia High School | Estes Model Rockets, launch tools & safety gear | $750 |
Hands-On STEM Learning With Rockets
Biology teacher Laura Albertson shared her excitement about receiving the STEM grant. The Estes Rockets project will allow students to explore principles of flight, space exploration, and engineering design through real experiments.
She explained that the fund will support an expanded STEM curriculum where students will even get to speak live with astronauts aboard the International Space Station this spring. The rockets will help students understand real-world aerospace concepts and inspire creativity and curiosity.
Creative Expression Through Glassblowing
Art teacher Grant Charpentier also expressed deep gratitude for the glassblowing equipment grant. He noted that glass is a powerful medium that helps shape young artists in meaningful ways, saying, “You are making a difference in students’ lives.”
This equipment will allow students to work with a unique art form that is rarely accessible in high schools.
Emporia Middle School – Figment Friday Reading Program
Emporia Middle School received $400 to purchase more Figment Friday books.
Teacher Joanna Kessinger shared how excited she was to expand her classroom library.
She explained how a simple purple dragon character called Figment inspired a weekly reading tradition that students now look forward to. During Figment Friday, students sit together on the floor—like in elementary school—and explore books on topics like:
- Self-improvement
- Understanding others
- Adventures and imagination
- Poetry and creativity
In today’s world of nonstop technology, this program helps students rediscover their love of reading.
Timmerman Elementary – Student Business Project
The final grant of $331.94 went to Timmerman Elementary School for their exciting project called “Fourth Graders Real Life Create Their Own Business.”
Teacher Rylee Hendrikse shared that this funding helps students learn real-world economics by letting them run their own business from start to finish. Students learn about:
- Profit and loss
- Making cost-effective choices
- Product demand
- Improving business strategies
The project teaches financial responsibility in a fun, hands-on way and is one of the activities students look forward to all year.
Emporia Community Foundation: The latest awards from the Emporia Community Foundation show how powerful creative teaching can be when teachers receive the support they need.
From rockets and glassblowing to reading circles and student businesses, these grants open the door to learning experiences that spark imagination, build confidence, and help students discover their true potential.
Emporia’s classrooms are growing stronger every year because of programs like these.