By: Aimee Kereage
Connections, relationships, impacts. These are things that lift and strengthen us as human beings. Connections within our community, support of and from our “neighbors”, relationships that help us feel welcome and valued. Wanting to make an impact in our community looks different for each of us and is often based upon our current circumstances.
But how do we make an impact? Sometimes we have no idea where to look, how to begin, who needs support. Manchester Proud is committed to helping create connections across our community for the goal of creating exceptional public schools. Therein lies the purpose of this post. This will be the first of a monthly highlight of impact that is intended to build awareness across all Manchester Proud partners of how you can support our schools, our teachers, our students.
Allow us to introduce you to PROUD Connections:
Highlight Impact area – Donors Choose – By Teachers for Teachers
Donors Choose is an online program used by public school educators to get supplies for classroom projects. Currently the Manchester School District has over 75 requests listed on Donors Choose by teachers looking for supplies such as whiteboards, craft supplies, sensory items, all the way to robotics and technology needs, the list could go on and on. Individuals can provide monetary donations to a specific topic, grade level or school. What makes your heart sing? Is it STEM focused, is it about social emotional learning, is it helping to drive the love of reading? You will find a request that needs your support. Click here and see all of the projects across our school district Donors Choose Manchester.
A few highlighted projects:
Mrs. Place of Northwest Elementary School Research shows that people learn and concentrate in many ways. Many adults are gum chewers, foot tappers, doodlers, etc. My students are not sure how they learn best and it’s my job to help them figure that out. Many children can sit “criss-cross-apple-sauce” with hands on their laps to learn, however some children have a very difficult time listening and learning if they must sit still. This can be very distracting for other students in the room as well. By providing my students with materials that keep their hands busy and provide sensory input, they are more available to learn, and it helps other students around them learn too. Find her request here
Mrs. Piotrowski of Southside Middle School Students need cooking equipment to practice making highly nutritious and budget-friendly recipes. Students love hands-on learning and their enthusiasm decreases once they see the equipment. Most of the items in each station are very old and following apart. No amount of cleaning or repair will bring them back to life. Many of the items are over 20 years old. . The foods we talk about and make always keep a strict budget in mind along with being nutritious. The students are fully invested with a lab, they love to go home and cook for their families and share what they have learned. These hands-on life skills lessons will last a lifetime. Find her request here.
Mrs. Lincoln of Memorial High School Participating in a FIRST program, students have the opportunity to be involved in a challenging team activity where they build relationships, learn new skills, and gain a deeper understanding of and an increased interest in STEM. The students on our team come from a variety of backgrounds but share a passion for learning more about science, technology, engineering and mathematics and the business of running our robotics team. Currently, our team is the only way that students at our school can earn a credit in engineering. Computers are very important to us because they help keep our team organized, the computers that we have been using are old and slow. New computers would solve some of our issues and allow us to do our work faster. With just two laptops, more students would be able to be involved in different areas of the team. Find her request here.
These are only 3 of many projects that can help support our teachers, our schools and ultimately our students.
For more information on creating impact and connections within Manchester School District contact Aimee Kereage at aimeek@manchesterproud.org.