The Foundation awards teacher grants once each semester. Our commitment continues to be helping teachers provide the best educational experiences possible for the students in this community. The purpose of the grants is to help teachers meet and/or expand educational goals. The emphasis will be on experiential opportunities and/or creative ways of delivering curricular standards. Some examples may be visiting authors, poets, artists, entrepreneurs, field trips (in-person or virtual), tapping into the local history, architecture, industries, museums. These proposals may include requests for materials needed to implement the experience or delivery.
Not sure where to begin? Check out these grant ideas for inspiration!
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2025 – 2026 Teacher Grant Wrap-Up
Pioneers, pigs, plays, and Purdue Express were among the projects that the West Lafayette Schools Education Foundation’s Teacher Grant Program funded. The committee received 15 proposals for the 2025-2026 school year that totaled $15,921.80 in requests. Thanks to YOU, our donors, the committee is proud to report that 13 of the 15 proposals were funded in full for a total of $13,380.12, a new record for supporting teachers’ creativity and professional growth.
Watch the video below featuring some of this year’s grant recipients, then keep scrolling down to read more about the individual grants.
Purdue Express, a specially equipped mobile van that delivers class-sized sets of modern, professional scientific instruments to participating schools visited Becca Gwen’s chemistry, integrated chemistry and physics classes and allowed them access to equipment and other resources that otherwise would not be available to them.
Becky Swanson was able to fund her proposal, Enhancing Sensory Regulation and Engagement in Our High School Level Exceptional Learners, by purchasing a variety of sensory tools and materials to support the emotional regulation, focus, and engagement of high school students in the special education program, resulting in more confidence in academic and social participation.
Becky Swanson and Karri Huckstep were able to purchase math manipulatives that provided opportunities for their students to physically build, experiment, and explore math in new ways, building confidence and success in student’s classwork with their grant, Increasing High School Mathematics Engagement and Understanding through Hands-On Construction Manipulatives.
Conestoga Wagon
The 4th graders at West Lafayette Intermediate School experienced what life was like in Indiana after it became a state in 1816. Celeste Fernandez’s grant, Pioneer Days: Bringing History to Life!, allowed the students to turn a lab room into a one-room schoolhouse and complete a STEM challenge introducing the students to the Oregon Trail in small Conestoga Wagon companies. In addition, the students made butter, apple head dolls, pioneer village dioramas, and read books about daily living in the 1800s, which led to writing stories and sharing them around the "campfire.”
Adaptive swimming
Chris Klinge, the author of the Enrichment in Adaptive Swimming proposal, created an adaptive swimming program for elementary special education students. Through the use of aquatic sensory toys, water sensory mats and floating beanbags, dive rings and underwater retrieval toys, this program is playing a critical role in teaching water safety and building comfort and skills in a structured environment giving families peace of mind through early, supported exposure to safe aquatic experiences.
Dianna Van Dyke’s proposal, Calm, Focus, and Grow: Self-Regulation Supports for Early Learners with Autism, allowed her to purchase sensory-regulation tools, fidget materials, structured self-regulation lessons, and engaging books to support the lessons for kindergarten and first graders who are neurodivergent. These tools will promote focus and reduce overstimulation and learning disruptions.
Emily Brown, and a supporting cast of other teachers, organized a One Book One School program which resulted in a school-wide shared reading experience of The World According to Humphrey by Betty G. Birney, which involved weekly literacy activities, discussions, and STEAM-based extensions culminating with a family STEAM Night.
No, you are not hearing things. That is our 6th graders all playing the ukulele! Emily Hale’s proposal, Ukulele Music Unit for 6th Grade Students, allowed her to purchase 25 ukuleles and accompanying equipment “to foster individual musical expression, enhance fine motor skills, and promote collaborative learning.”
Erin Pierson, 6th grade teacher at West Lafayette Intermediate School, purchased WeWillWrite, an online social writing program that “ignites the urge to write in all students.” Ms. Pierson reports that her students “have been writing furiously about any topic I throw at them and have carried that spirit with them into other writing assignments and tasks as well.”
Scarlette
Reviving The Scarlette, as proposed by Liz Dixon, is thankfully making a comeback. The decades old school newspaper was disappearing, but thanks to the enthusiasm of teachers and student writers, it made a splash this year with new and improved printing and content, including a 32-page color layout encompassing some of The Purple Aardvark traditions.
Last year Formalin mink and Formalin non-venomous snakes! This year’s Zoology Mammal Project, as proposed by Tracy Fairchild, involved the purchase of 28 Formalin pigs to use as a culminating project of his Class Mammalia unit. Nothing can compare to a hands-on dissection of a real specimen.
The West Lafayette Junior High/Senior High School’s art department has a reputation for excellence, and, of course, we would like to see that continue. Emily Banta’s proposal, Glaze the Way!, will give junior high students the opportunity to experience the use of underglazes and to explore color, design, and craftsmanship through hands-on clay projects.
Pierson animation grant
In producing Greek Myth Adaptations, created by the 6th graders in Erin Pierson’s class, newly purchased wireless microphones and Bluetooth receivers were used to create a more polished version of original stop-motion animations – with the help of Rachel Larsen (’99), creator of the award-winning “The Tiny Chef Show.”
Again, THANK YOU to our donors for helping our WLCSC staff thrive!