2022 Funded Grants

It’s amazing the ideas our teachers can envision, and it’s our privilege
to fund their innovation.

 

This year OSEF awarded 62 teacher grants, representing a total investment of $125,000 into the Ocean Springs School District. Our review guidelines prioritize innovation, sustainability, and impact, and are meant for projects and ideas that both complement and exceed everyday classroom curriculum.

 

Cycle 1 - Spring 2022

  • U Matter U Shaped Table

    Kristina Alfonso - OSUE, grade 4

    Provides a U-shaped table to increase interaction

  • Old School Audio

    Michelle Allen - OSMS, grades 7&8

    Provides a record player, vinyl records, and a speaker to integrate music into media center & classroom curriculums

  • One Team, One Heart, One Legacy - OS Unified Sports

    Colleen Barr & Susannah Gregg - OSHS, grades 7-12

    Provides materials for students with disabilities who participate in the Sparkle Cheer Team & Unified Basketball Team

  • The Koi’s Are Back In Town

    Bryan Butler - OSHS, grades 10-12

    Builds a system to incorporate koi fish into aquaponics systems in the Aquaculture program

  • In A Nutshell: Kits for Enhanced Science Labs

    Ashley Chennault - OSUE, grade 4

    Provides hands-on science lab kits

  • Reading Around the World With Track Tales

    Brooke Dykes & Lara Jenkins - Oak Park, grades K-3

    A health & literacy initiative providing large format books to use in displays on the school walking track

  • Take a look it’s in a Book!

    Susannah Gregg - OSHS, grades 9-12

    Creates a classroom reading center for students with disabilities

  • Changing Perspectives

    Ashley Gregoire - OSHS, grades 9-12

    Provides DLSR cameras for photography class

  • Circles

    Rachel Henry - Pecan Park, grades K-3

    Provides a social and life skills curriculum for students with autism or intellectual disabilities

  • Track Tales: A Wellness & Learning Initiative

    Lara Jenkins & Brooke Dykes - Oak Park, grades K-3

    A health & literacy initiative providing outdoor book displays on the school walking track

  • Learn, Play, & Grow!

    Beth Lafrance - Oak Park, PK4

    Provides interactive and sensory play items

  • Building up S.T.E.A.M.

    Mary Lentz - Pecan Park, grade 3

    Provides hands-on learning resources to enhance science and math curriculum

  • Twisted Fairy Tales & Fables

    Leah Puzz - OSMS, grade 7

    Provides an innovative writing unit for students

  • Sensory Spaces Make Happy Faces & Minds

    Jeremy Robinson & Brooke Gibson - OSUE, grades 4-6

    Provides students an in-room sensory escape area

  • Sensory Play Experiences Just Make Sense

    Kelly Robinson - Oak Park, PK4

    Provides sensory-rich activities, challenges, and centers in the classroom

  • Painting Our Way Through Mississippi’s Curriculum

    Caitlin Stauter & Ashley Chennault - OSUE, grade 4

    A cross-curricular project in which students create a painting inspired by a famous Mississippian for a school art exhibit

  • Code and Go

    Melissa Sundberg - OSUE, grade 5

    Provides a coding robot mouse for interactive virtual travel

  • Get Up & Go Garden

    Kayla Yarbrough & Michelle Allen - OSMS, grades 7&8

    Creates a multi-purpose garden featuring sensory integration therapy, flower/herb planters, and a zen garden

Cycle 2 - Fall 2022

  • Virtual Reality for History

    Amanda Bond - OSHS, grades 9-12

    Provides VR headset goggles for learning about historical events

  • Model Science

    Erin Carr & Christy Landrum - OSUE, grade 5

    Provides 3D models to help students visualize abstract science concepts

  • New Beginnings in Music

    Leslie Christman - OSUE, grades 4-6

    Provides materials and instruments for a new ukulele course

  • Spreading Manners & Virtues

    Angela Cook - OSUE, grade 6

    Provides puppetry materials for students to teach about manners

  • Pathway to Outdoor Learning

    Amanda Cummings & Ann McGraw - Magnolia Park Elementary, grades K-3

    Provides a stone walkway leading to the school’s outdoor classroom

  • Library Detectives

    Brooke Dykes - Oak Park, grades K-3

    Provides mystery books and interactive crime-solving collateral for the school library

  • Leadership Challenge Course

    Steven Farragut - OSHS, grades 9-12

    Provides materials for a JROTC obstacle course

  • Making Melody

    John Felt - OSUE, grades 4-5

    Provides a set of soprano glockenspiels (bells) for the music class

  • Focusing on Students

    Ashley Gregoire - OSHS, grades 9-12

    Provides seven DSLR cameras for photography class

  • Segway to STEM: Phase 2

    Leanne Halford - OSUE, grade 4

    Provides tablets to complement class robotics/coding “Smart Buddies” technology

  • Dry Erase the Math Blues

    Leigh Hughes & Christy Bostic - OSUE, grade 6

    Incorporates color, manipulatives, and games into math small group instruction

  • Running Club Technology Takeover

    Lara Jenkins - Oak Park, grades 1-3

    Provides an EZ-Scan system to track laps run by students

  • Read All About It

    Mary Lentz - Pecan Park, grade 3

    Provides a classroom library of science materials

  • Operation Rainy Recess Rescue

    Lauren Mitchell - Magnolia Park, grade 2

    Provides interactive and manipulative for use during recess

  • Unlocking Positive Potential

    April Mitchell - E.H. Keyes, grades 4-12

    Provides a Positive Behavior Intervention System at EH Keyes

  • Behind the Lens

    Jacie Meyers - OSHS, grades 10-12

    Provides two new DSLR cameras and two new lenses for the yearbook staff

  • Exhibition Activation

    Brittany Oliphant - OSHS, grades 9-12

    Provides materials to enable student artists to display their artwork in community exhibitions

  • Room Transformations

    Olivia Smith & Macy Chism - OSMS, grade 8

    Provides materials to transform the classroom into scenes from Encase passages

  • I Don't Know About You, But We'd Like An OZOBOT EDU!

    Melissa Sundberg - OSUE, grades 4-6

    Provides a set of 18 Ozobot robots

  • Gamifying US History

    Rebecca Tyndall & Meghan Jones - OSHS, grade 11

    Brings curriculum to life through history-based games and play scenarios

  • The World at Their Fingertips

    Allison Yarrow - OSUE, grade 4

    Provides Oculus headsets for the gifted class

  • PBIS Greatness Game Room

    Hannah Yount - OSUE, grades 4-6

    Provides a PBIS game room