Teacher Grants Awarded

Teacher Grants Awarded

By Mary Britton-Simmons

Annually the Youth Education Committee awards two grants of $450.00 to Eastside schools with a significant low-income student body. Schools are chosen based on the percentage of students receiving free and reduced-priced lunches. A volunteer contacts the principal of the school and asks him/her to notify staff of the grant. Funds are to be used for the following: non-consumable, reusable materials; a project centered on the environment, science, nature; lessons consistent with the mission of Eastside Audubon. 

Over the years, the Youth Education Committee has given funds to the following school districts: Bellevue, Lake Washington, Northshore and Snoqualmie Valley. The projects have been varied: nature books to be shared by all fourth-grade students; a pond survey using a time-lapse camera; gardens created by students; building and monitoring bee houses. And those are just a few examples! During the 2019-2000 school year, grants were given to teachers from the Futures Secondary School in the Lake Washington School District and from Kenmore Elementary in the Northshore School District. The Futures School has 34% of its student body receiving free and reduced-price lunches while Kenmore has 36%. 

Students in Cynthia Baker’s Environmental Science class are building bird feeders, monitoring the visitors with an outdoor, wildlife camera and doing research on individual birds. The Futures School now has citizen scientists. Jessa VanDyk ordered binoculars for her students to use on the fields surrounding Kenmore Elementary and in the nearby woods. And then as a follow-up, on March 31 a volunteer from the Youth Education Committee will give presentations to three classes of first graders excited about birds and their place in the environment.

Thanks to Eastside Audubon’s generous donors, the chapter can funnel funds to low-income schools in our area and impact a wide variety of students. Who knows how many of these students will be scientists, avid outdoors men and women, nature writers and photographers, environmental voters and members of Eastside Audubon!