Over the 2018-2019 school year, First Interstate Bank and KXLH awarded $8,250 in One Class At A Time grants to 33 teachers in the Helena area.
The $250 grants funded projects ranging from alternative seating to ceiling tile murals.
Teachers often have small budgets for their classroom, and purchases outside of the necessities come out of their own pocket.
Here are some of the reactions from this year’s grant recipients:
“I love the individual grant because I’m able to use it for things that are tailored specifically to my classroom to help my students specifically succeed,” said Dana Swingley, C.R. Anderson Spanish teacher.
Hawthorne Elementary teacher Jolene Novak said, “I just think it’s a great project that you guys do for the community and for our students. We really appreciate it.”
“A lot of times there’s tons of paperwork with loopholes and then it takes forever to get money,” said Joice Franzen, Bryant Elementary School Librarian, “but with this, I just like applied a month ago and I can get it into my classroom right away.”
“This is just so great,” said Paola Torres, HHS Spanish teacher. “Thank you so much I appreciate it. I makes me so happy that we’re going to have some money to buy some resources that are going to help us teach better.”
“Thank you, this is a great opportunity that they provide to the teachers in the community. It’s very helpful for our classrooms so it’s great,” said Alison Horne, Warren Elementary School.
For more than a decade, First Interstate Bank and MTN have partnered for the One Class at a Time grant.
The mission of the grant is to foster educational opportunities for local teachers and students.
A panel of retired teachers and school officials select the grant recipients from a pool of submitted applications.
For more information about One Class at a Time, visit here.
-Reported by John Riley/MTN News
