Date: September 23, 2004
Contact: Irene Cromer
703-791-8720

GRANTS ENABLE SCHOOL DIVISION TO OFFER MORE
EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES

Prince William County Public Schools has received several grants that will expand educational opportunities for students at Saunders Middle School and Alvey Elementary School, and sixth grade and high school earth science teachers.

Laura Dowling, a seventh grade Language Arts teacher at Saunders Middle School, has been recognized as one of the nation’s most innovative educators in the 2004 ING Unsung Heroes awards program. ING Financial Services has awarded Saunders a $2,000 grant. One of 100 winners out of 1,500 applicants, Dowling now competes for one of three additional top prizes, $25,000, $10,000, and $5,000. Dowling’s “Virtual Classroom” project allows students to use the Web for test taking, classwide discussions, posting writings, and to create a “Webfolio” of all their work. Parents and students can access nearly all classroom material including, commonly asked questions, and students can receive immediate feedback on their online projects.

The ING Unsung Heroes awards program recognizes kindergarten through twelfth grade educators nationwide for their innovative teaching methods, creative educational projects, and  ability to make a positive influence on the children they teach. Now in its ninth year, the
program has awarded more than two million dollars to nearly 900 educators across the United States.

Carol Livengood, a teacher at Marsteller Middle School, received a grant of $300 from the Virginia Commission for the Arts during the 2003-04 school year while she was at Alvey Elementary School. The “Carry Me Back to Old Virginia” funds supported classroom history projects and a visit from a representative of the Jamestown Foundation who spoke to the fourth grade about the three cultures of early Virginia. The entire fourth grade made corn husk dolls, hand dipped candles, a windscreen for the candle, and a silhouette for their parents.
The school division received a $1,100 grant from the Smithsonian National Zoological Park and the University of Virginia’s Blandy Experimental Farm for a two-session staff development workshop on watersheds. In the first workshop on September 1, teachers spent the day testing water quality, identifying the location and structure of Virginia’s regional watershed systems, and exploring the effects of human usage on water quality and watersheds. A follow-up workshop is scheduled on November 2. The grant award allows $500 for materials and $600 for staff development. The Belmont Bay Science Center contributed an additional $600 in-kind services.

The grant proposal was developed and submitted by LouEllen Brademan, Center for
Environmental Science coordinator, Freedom High School; Julie Christafore, Instructional Support Team, Curriculum and Staff Development; and Sue Kirk and Summer Schultz, Belmont Bay Science Center staff.

###