Teacher Grants
Teachers to purchase much-needed classroom supplies
Sue Breyer | CalRTA Vice President
For the third time this school year, CalRTA Division 33 randomly drew the names of three lucky teacher grant winners at their February 8th general meeting. Each local educator will receive a $100 check to be used in their classrooms.
Jill Sugita is a math teacher and former Teacher of the Year for Tahquitz High. Mrs. Sugita loves working with students and helping them to succeed. When she was informed that she had been selected to receive $100 for her classroom, she explained, “I plan to purchase a whiteboard and pens for my students to use as part of my math 360. My class has become more engaging for students when they are the ones up on the whiteboards (and not me). A student recently made a comment about how he tends to disengage from all his classes, but he cannot in mine because he likes to be up doing things, even if it’s math!” Bethany Gibson, an IB Language and Literature teacher at San Jacinto High School, is in her eighth year of teaching. An advocate of lifelong learning, Ms. Gibson shares her enthusiasm for literature and the pursuit of knowledge every day with her 12th grade students. “I have been fascinated by archetypes since university, and I spent several months during Covid developing lessons related to the topic of archetypes, says Gibson. “I will use these funds to purchase a class set of Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere.
It is a Modern fantasy novel that is a fantastic example of Gaiman’s use of archetypes, and I have wanted to teach this novel for years,” she explains. San Jacinto High School’s second lucky winner is Vanessa Ensign, a 9th and 10th grade math teacher who, like many of her colleagues, plans to use her winnings for much-needed classroom supplies. “I plan on using the $100 grant to print “invisible math” posters, which help students understand that as they progress through higher levels of math, they learn that there are “hidden rules” in mathematics,” Ms. Ensign explains. “I started as a new teacher 3 years ago, and I planned on printing these popular posters for my 2nd year after realizing how much they are needed in the classroom. But then distance learning happened. Now that we are back in the classroom, I am realizing again how much I need to get these posters printed for my students.”
Local teachers in the Hemet, San Jacinto, Temecula, Murrieta, Menifee, Lake Elsinore, Nuview and Romoland School Districts can apply for these “no strings attached” $100 grants. CalRTA, which selects 15-20 $100 grant recipients each year, shares grant registration details with school site administrators who then are encouraged to share the information with their staff. Teachers can also access grant application forms at CalRTA Division 33’s Scholarships & Grants page on their Division website: https://div33.calrta.org/scholarships-and-grants/. Applications will open on March 12th for their April 12th drawing.
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