Three Cranston schools win grants to make learning exciting

Edgewood Highlands Elementary School is celebrating the diversity of its student body and community by creating two clay murals that reflect the many positive aspects of diversity. One mural will be installed at Edgewood Highlands and the other at Cranston East High School.

Edgewood Highlands art teacher Ellen Laprocina won a Carter Spark Grant from the Rhode Island Foundation to fund the mural project. Funded by philanthropists Letitia and the late John Carter, the Carter Spark Grants program offered third- and fourth-grade teachers across Rhode Island grants of up to $1,000 for activities that engage students through unique experiences and creative learning methods.

“Once again, the Carter family is promoting change through leadership. Thanks to their foresight, teachers all over Rhode Island have an exceptional opportunity to be innovative,” said Neil D. Steinberg, president and CEO of the Foundation.

In addition to Edgewood Highlands, Glen Hills and George Peters schools also won Carter Spark Grants.

Glen Hills is using its grant to subscribe to “Time for Kids” magazine and to fund trips to the University of Rhode Island Botanical Gardens and the Cranston Senior Center, where students will discuss current events with members and form partnership that foster better understanding and acceptance of intergenerational perspectives on such events.

“This will bring current events alive for my students at an academic level that they can understand and process. It will help them to be more interested and involved in the world around them, the role they play and how they can impact events in their world, state or community,” said third-grade teacher Lisa Davis, who won the grant. “It has been amazing to watch the partnership between students and seniors in the past. It is important for my students to understand how that senior center adds value to our community and helps them learn empathy, care and respect for those who have helped build their community.”

George Peters used its grant for a school trip to the Boston Museum of Science. Students participated in hands-on activities, viewed educational presentations, saw science-based exhibits and talked with museum guides to help deepen their understanding of science.

“They traveled through different exhibits and saw science in motion in ways that are not possible in my classroom. By being able to participate in this engaging, learning experience, my students’ love of learning will be able to spark even more,” said fourth-grade teacher Jamie McKenzie, who received the grant.

Laprocina, Davis and McKenzie are among dozens of teachers statewide who received more than $134,000 in Carter Spark Grants from the Foundation. Schools in Barrington, Bristol, East Providence, North Kingstown, Portsmouth, Smithfield, Warren and Woonsocket also won funding.

The Rhode Island Foundation is the largest and most comprehensive funder of nonprofit organizations in Rhode Island. Working with generous and visionary donors, the Foundation raised $114 million and awarded $52 million in grants to organizations addressing the state’s most pressing issues and needs of diverse communities in 2018. Through leadership, fundraising and grantmaking activities, often in partnership with individuals and organizations, the Foundation is helping Rhode Island reach its true potential. For more information, visit rifoundation.org.