Five local area educators have some shopping to do over winter break. No, not for holiday gifts but for their students! The California Retired Teachers Association (CalRTA) awarded each of these classroom teachers a $100 grant to use in their classrooms. CalRTA’s local Division 33, which serves Hemet, San Jacinto, Menifee, Romoland and Nuview districts, randomly selected its four recipients from a pool of 150 applicants at their December luncheon. The fifth grant recipient, also a local teacher, was one of 95 teachers randomly chosen by the State CalRTA organization in their November drawing. Local Division 33 $100 Grant recipients were Aimee Howman, Krystal Simioli, Tawnee Wallace and Sara McLamb. The CalRTA State grant recipient was Allison Yanez.
Aimee Howman teaches English 10 and ERWC (Expository Reading and Writing Curriculum) at Nuview Bridge Early College High School in Nuview. She says she is “super excited to use this $100 grant to start building an awesome classroom library for my students. I have been wanting to purchase new graphic novels and other young adult books for both my struggling students and avid readers.”
KrystalSimioli, who teaches Transitional Kindergarten at Menifee’s Callie Kirkpatrick Elementary School, has already planned how she will use the $100 grant. “Thank you so much for the $100 special funding I received to help me add important resources to my classroom,” Simioli said. “I’m so excited to supply my students with much needed manipulatives for ELA and Math. My students learn a variety of ways, and the grant funds will help purchase tools for hands-on/play-based learning, such as Melissa and Doug See and Spell Wooden Educational Toys, Wooden Alphabet and Number Stamps, and blocks for STEM integration. Thank you again for this opportunity!”
Tawnee Wallace, 6th grade math and science teacher at Monte Vista Middle School in San Jacinto, says she was “thrilled that I have been selected as one of the $100 winners! As a dedicated educator, I am deeply grateful for this opportunity. The funds will directly benefit my students by providing essential learning supplies—specifically, a full year’s supply of pencils and a new calculator for each student. These resources will support my students’ academic journey and help remove barriers to their learning. Thank you!”
Sara McLamb, a TK teacher at Hemet Elementary School, was grateful for “this wonderful opportunity! My TK students and I are very excited to have earned this grant for our classroom. We are going to be spending the $100 grant on outdoor toys for our recess and exploration time. Our learning through play will be enhanced with this grant and my students will have more opportunities to explore and have fun outdoors. We would like to purchase some fun outdoor items to use to develop our gross motor skills.”
Allison Yanez, a 2nd-grade teacher at Winchester Elementary School in Winchester, received her CalRTA State $100 Teacher Grant from Division 33 Co-President Sue Breyer during her school’s November staff meeting. Breyer then surprised Ms. Yanez with a matching $100 bill from Division 33, for a total of $200to use in her classroom. Allison was one of 95 recipients randomly selected from 10,000 applicants throughout the state. Upon receiving her $200, Allison said, “Thank you so much for this grant! I’ll be using it to bring some wonderful new read-aloud books into our classroom. I’ll also be purchasing supplies to support smoother transitions between activities. Thank you, CalRTA, for helping make these additions possible!”
The Teacher Grant program is one way in which the California Retired Teachers Association supports public education. Each year, CalRTA Division 33 offers 13 $1000 scholarships to graduating seniors and presents 16 $100 teacher grants through its random drawings. In addition to supporting California’s public education system, CalRTA is also an advocate for retirement security for public educators and for the repeal of the unfair Social Security penalties, WEP and GPO. For more information about CalRTA, visit calrta.org or div33.calrta.org.
