Sixteen Manatee County teachers are among the record number of educators who applied for and received Splash! mini-grants through the Southwest Florida Water Management District.
This year the District awarded Splash! mini-grants to 209 educators totaling more than $413,000. That’s 72 more grant recipients than last year.
Mary Margaret Hull, lead communications coordinator, attributes the increase in awardees to an increase in promotion among the District’s school board contacts and classroom teachers, as well as decreases in school budgets.
“These teachers are receiving a small amount of money but are able to accomplish so much,” said Hull. “Mini-grant recipients also utilize the District’s great collection of curriculum materials as well as learn about other opportunities, including teacher training and District-funded field trips in their region.”
The Manatee County awardees include:
- Karen Newhall,Anna Maria Island Elementary School, will receive $1,709.50. Students will participate in fall and spring field trips with Around the Bend Nature Tours to study nearby water resources and the environment. They will keep journals documenting their experiences and collected data.
- Maidie Meckley,B. D. Gullett Elementary School, will receive $3,449.66. Students will perform water-related classroom experiments and create public service announcements about conservation and pollution to share with the community.
- Ellena Huston,Ballard Elementary School, will receive $4,800. All students at Ballard Elementary will participate in guided studies of nearby ecosystems by Around the Bend Nature Tours.
- Debbie Daigle,Central High School, will receive $873.04. Students will Manatee collect samples from local water bodies, bring them back to the classroom and study them throughout the school year. They will complete labs that will determine water quality and search for the life that is contained in their samples. Their work will be documented by experiments and lab reports.
- John Schultz,Daughtrey Elementary School, will receive $3,867.75. Students will take field trips to perform water quality tests on local water bodies and participate in water-related classroom experiments.
- Sarah Mitchell,Johnson Middle School, will receive $809.70. Students will take field trips to the Myakka River State Park and Lake Manatee to observe wildlife and perform water quality tests. Each student will create a year-end project focusing on watersheds, natural systems or water conservation.
- Ann Cruikshank,Johnson Middle School, will receive $1,180. Students will participate in a community service project such as planting native plants, a coastal cleanup or a “bio blitz” at Robinson Preserve and Coquina Beach. They will also perform water-related classroom experiments, research various aquatic ecosystems and share their research with the rest of the class.
- William Keele,Kinnan Elementary School, will receive $2,252.75. Students will take a field trip to a local water body to perform water quality tests and engage in water-related classroom activities.
- Darren Brunner,Lincoln Memorial Middle School, will receive $3,750. Students will canoe down the Little Manatee River to collect water quality samples and observe natural systems.
- Doug Fallin,Manatee Technical Institute, will receive $3,350. Students will explore water’s potential as a fuel source by building a generator to separate water into two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen that will fuel an internal combustion motor.
- Ashlie Fulmer,Wakeland Elementary School, will receive $2,445.35. Students will plant a Florida-friendly garden. They will also take field trips to Mote Marine Laboratory, Tampa Bay Watch and Myakka River State Park to observe natural systems and engage in educational programming.
- Sharon Itts,Braden River High School, will receive $1,701.06. Students will create and study classroom ecosystems, perform water-related experiments and travel to local schools to mentor younger students about natural systems and the environment.
- Melanie Jurgovan,Braden River High School, will receive $1,525. Students will create a water-conserving garden on campus. They will track rainfall data and the progress of the garden.
- Kimberly Hicks,Bashaw Elementary School, will receive $1,100.40. Students will install a rain barrel to irrigate an existing on-campus garden and perform soil tests on school grounds. They will also take field trips to Mote Marine Laboratory.
- Greg Beekhuizen,Bradenton Christian School, will receive $2,198.95. Students will participate in field trips to the Myakka River State Park to observe natural systems and perform water quality tests. They will produce a video to describe their procedures and results to other biology students at the school.
Last year 13 mini-grants were awarded in Manatee County.
The goal of the mini-grant program is to promote hands-on water resources education that teaches students about their local watersheds and the water resources within them. Splash! mini-grants provide up to $5,000 per school on a reimbursement basis only and are available to public, private and home school teachers.
Past mini-grant projects include water quality monitoring of local lakes and rivers, the development of water-conserving gardens on school properties, and outreach campaigns designed to promote awareness of water-conserving practices.
In addition to mini-grant funding, the District offers educators free teacher training workshops, speakers for classroom presentations and free educational materials. The publications are correlated to Florida’s Sunshine State Standards and can also be ordered on the District’s web site at www.WaterMatters.org/publications/ .