Seven teachers across the Niles Community School district recently received nearly $3,000 total in Golden Acorn Excellence in Education Mini Grants.

The funds were presented by Lisa Cripps-Downey, the president of the Berrien Community Foundation, Monday during the Niles Community School board of education meeting at the Administration Building.   

The Berrien Community Foundation collects charitable fund contributions through gifts, bequests and other donations to form an endowment, which can then be utilized for projects around Berrien County.

Through the Golden Acorn grant application process, Downey said teachers demonstrated innovative ideas for improving their classroom.

“It never ceases to amaze me how creative teachers are when it comes to helping students achieve,” Downey said. “We know that when teachers want to do something creative in the classroom, a lot of times they have to dig the money out of their own pockets.”

The Golden Acorn Mimi Grants are distributed by the Berrien Community Foundation twice a year, but the application process is open year-round.

Teachers were aided by Angie Cramer, who helped them to prepare the grant applications. Teachers could receive up to $500.

The newly awarded grant funds will cover new equipment, classroom projects and technology.

Among those who accepted a grant award was Niles High School Spanish teacher Jennifer Fadely, wanted to help students better connect with a foreign language. Fadely who was awarded a grant for $455 and will put the funds toward purchasing a magazine in Spanish.

Fadely said she wanted students to be able to read something that was written for native speakers.

“It’s more authentic text and will be a higher interest to students,” Fadely said.

For Eastside Connections kindergarten teacher Paula Rose, her $300 grant will help her purchase materials that will help children improve their fine motor development skills. Rose said the funds will cover scissors, hole punches and staplers designed to teach children how to properly hold the tools.

Downey is a Niles graduate and said that it is touching to see teachers working hard to give their students the best possible learning experience in the classroom.

“It was neat to see teachers still being creative and doing wonderful things in the classroom, things that I know helped to prepare me for college,” Downey said. “You guys are still at it. I was really excited to share that with the board and let them know that they have some awesome teachers.”

Various grant applications can be accessed at the Berrien Community Foundation’s website at berriencommunity.org/gaclassroom.

The following teachers were awarded grants:

• Sharon Cochran, Niles High School for the Culinary Arts Program

• Paula Rose, Eastside Connections, for fine motor development tools

• Jennifer Fadely, Niles High School, for Spanish language learning materials

• Tim Tobin, Niles High School, for language enrichment materials, headphones

• Scott Morgan, Ring Lardner, for graphic design materials, to purchase five copies of Photoshop 5

• Steven Runkle, Ring Lardner, for math materials to create, print and distribute posters

• Robin Hadrick and Nicole Sherburn, Ballard Elementary, for the conflict resolution tools for the behavior specialist