Teachers Have Projects Funded Through National Website

 Teachers Have Projects Funded Through National Website, DonorsChoose.org and Local Company Horace Mann Insurance

 Friday, Jan. 30; 12:15 p.m.

Washington Middle School

  1801 Washington Avenue

Background:  The EVSC and Horace Mann Insurance Agent Nathan Hillyard, have partnered to help fund teacher projects via DonorsChoose.org, an online non-profit organization allowing individuals to donate directly to classroom projects.  Hillyard said his desire, and that of his company and the EVSC is to increase educational opportunities for students.  He would like to see  teacher awareness of the Donors Choose possibility for project funding; and he would like to increase public awareness of the site, so that more projects are funded.

Hillyard and Horace Mann are pledging $500 a month for 2015. A local committee will select projects on DonorsChoose.org to fund with that money – but the more individuals who donate to Donors Choose, Hillyard said, the more projects will be funded and the greater the benefit for students.

There are two projects that were fully funded through Donors Choose and Hillyard/Horace Mann this month.  At Washington, you will have the opportunity to see one of them and interview Art Teacher Audrey Kavanaugh. Kavanaugh  wanted to introduce her students to Pop Art – and the likes of artists Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein.  The printmaking gel plates she has received from Donors Choose have not yet been opened, so she plans to open the box and unveil the items to students on Friday, and tell them about what they will be doing in the near future. Kavanaugh says: “These plates can be used over and over with many students for many projects. These printing plates will allow the students to have a hands on experience actually creating multiple prints just as a real printmaker would.  This allows for more engagement in their learning because they are actually following the steps and completing the process not just reading about it in a book or me telling them about it from a presentation.”

The second project funded (which will not be shown at this media opportunity) was also an art project at the Academy for Innovative Studies-First Avenue.  Teacher Lisa Powers wanted her students to be able to submit artwork for the High School Art Show.  In order for the flat artwork – prints, paintings, etc. — to be accepted, it is required that it be mounted on mat board and covered in acetate, which was not available for the students.  Now, that her project has been funded, students are excited about the opportunity to showcase and submit their work for the show. “This will give them the valuable experience in submitting work when they enter higher education.  I am honored Horace Mann selected our project,” she said.