As we start to emerge from the pandemic, schools and educators are trying their best to bring a sense of normalcy back to their students.
This year’s SPARK! Creating Learning Grants recipients brought creativity back into their classrooms with each application we received.
We’re honored to spotlight the educators whose innovative spirit shaped this year’s SPARK! Grants. In 2021, we awarded over $54,000 in grants to 64 educators at 55 schools, empowering classroom ideas that push beyond the ordinary and breathe life into current curriculum.
“Students and parents are more excited than ever for the return to the classroom this fall, and after losing a year of in-person learning, educators are eager to begin new and impactful projects,” said Craig Carpenter, SELCO’s Senior Vice President of Lending and Business Banking. “SELCO’s mission with the SPARK! program has always been to make sure that a lack of funding never gets in the way of a great idea. We have been awarding these grants for nearly 30 years, and educators from around the state continue to impress us with their passion for teaching and creativity.”
2021 SPARK! Grant recipients
Each of our SPARK! Grant recipients moved us by telling us their idea to innovate their class project. Please see a full list of our 2021 grant recipients below:
Academy of Arts and Academics (Springfield)
- Cody Rosenberg, “Rubik's Cubes for Competition” — Providing a set of professional Rubik's brand magnetic speed cubes to a school-based cubing team.
Bend Tech Academy at Marshall High School (Bend)
- Heather Johnson, “Wellness & Physical Fitness Program” — Providing our students with movement, activities, and connections that have them feeling happier, healthier, and empowered.
- Dillon Mucha, “Logo Design” — Creating a workstation to design logos and graphics for our leadership-led student store.
Caldera High School (Bend)
- Rayne Cedergreer, “Operation Brain Break” — Creating classroom kits to promote the recharging of students' prefrontal cortex in order to keep them engaged in learning.
Camas Ridge Elementary School (Eugene)
- Cate Huang, “Fiber Arts Community Project” — Students will use the fiber arts kit to create personal wall hangings as well as to collaborate and create a community project.
Cascade Middle School (Eugene)
- Judy Tacchini, “Preserving the Narrative” — Writing, designing, curating, and publishing a paperback anthology of stories reflecting the lived, or imagined, experiences of students, for students.
Centennial Middle School (Portland)
- Angela Dickey, “A Healthy Lifestyle” — Equipping students with the knowledge, skills, and strategies needed to build healthy habits.
Cottage Grove High School (Cottage Grove)
- Brian Vollmer-Buhl, “Salute to Salmon” — Students will use teacher-taught art techniques to color a salmon plywood cutout, sketch the internal anatomy on the backside, and as a class create an informational public display.
Crane Union High School (Crane)
- Connie Robbins, “Elementary/Middle School Engineering Project” — Elementary students, K-5, will participate in an engineering/science day where students will engineer activities to solve a problem. Middle school students will build robots based on a criterion for contests.
Creswell High School (Creswell)
- Liz Babbs, “Join the Journey” — Providing gear to help rural students have access to recreation in the outdoors and wilderness.
Culver Elementary School (Culver)
- Artesha Ballard, “Love For Reading” — Creating lifelong readers through access and ownership of books.
Culver Middle School (Culver)
- Mark Habliston, “Lure Building Components” — Introducing students to outdoor recreation opportunities and impacts by building fishing lures and collaborating with ODFW on fish restoration.
Desert Sky Montessori (Bend)
- Pascaline Ocana, “Amplifying 2D Art with the Power of a Press” — Exploring the art concept of positive and negative space and creating tangible products through use of a manual press.
Dorena Elementary School (Dorena)
- Steve Sadiq, “Plant Wave” — Generate interest in plant taxonomy using modern technology.
Dufur School (Dufur)
- Tess Welk, “Maker Space STEAM” — Equipping students with access to Makerspace environment so they can enjoy themselves while learning about science and math.
Eagle Rock Elementary School (Eagle Point)
- Denise Rogers, “"STEM"ulating Creativity and Learning” — "STEM"ulating students to think creatively and learn how Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics affect their lives and futures!
Eddyville Charter School (Eddyville)
- Stephanie Austin, “Sampling Macroinvertebrates to Determine Water Quality” — Sampling macroinvertebrates to determine water quality at two locations of a creek on school grounds to introduce a unit on human impacts on ecosystems.
Elk Meadow Elementary School (Bend)
- Allison Gardner, “Reader's Workshop: Engagement Through Cultural Diversity and Equity” — Providing the opportunity to self-select high interest, engaging texts that represent a span of characters, topics, and events that support cultural diversity and social equity.
Elkton High School (Elkton)
- Sarah Billings, “Engaging the Digital Future” — Monumental moments with Micro:bits.
Forest Grove High School (Forest Grove)
- Jill Carey, “Unified Performers Present: Law and Order 'R' Word Edition” — Students with and without disabilities tackle current societal issues through meaningful theater opportunities.
Gervais Elementary School (Gervais)
- Courtney Karns, “Creating a Marimba” — Using STE(A)M principles to build a marimba and learn about science and culture in the process.
Junction City High School (Junction City)
- Santino Dworakowski, “Project Visualize!” — Providing students a high-quality media platform to analyze, critique and display their graphic art designs to each other and the student body.
Juniper Elementary School (Bend)
- Maddi Webb, “Domo Arigato Mr. Roboto” — Using robotics in the classroom to learn a multitude of skills, from technology to problem solving to social emotional learning.
La Pine High School (La Pine)
- Ken Thorp, “Projects on the Rise” — Developing opportunities involving arts and crafts, woodshop, and carpentry experiences to gain a diverse set of vocational skills.
- Cari Fike, “Expanding Vocational Opportunities” — Establishing a coffee cart as part of our vocational training program.
Lane School (Eugene)
- Anna Shea, “Butterflies, Bees, and Blooms, Oh My! Exploring Our Senses in Our Outdoor Garden Classroom” — Creating an accessible and sensory-rich outdoor learning environment for our students with special needs.
Laurel Elementary School (Junction City)
- Lydia Mann, “cARTs on Wheels!!” — Increasing student access to art by creating mobile art carts on wheels for a traveling art teacher.
Liberty Elementary School (Salem)
- Christine Robinson, “Second Grade- STEM Hands-On Projects Linked with ELA” — These literature-based Hands-On STEM Challenges will peak student engagement and foster resilience, problem solving and adaptive learning skills!
Lincoln Middle School (Cottage Grove)
- Dawn Stetina, “Bridge Classroom” — Addressing social-emotional needs and encouraging interpersonal skill development with the use of outdoor learning.
M.A. Lynch Elementary School (Redmond)
- Christina Connelly, “Gaga Ball Pit Creation” — Providing materials for fifth-graders to build a Gaga Ball Pit to engage the whole school in active play.
Madras Elementary School (Madras)
- Carmen Lawson, “Kindergarten Garden” — The objective of this project is to promote kindergarten self-help skills, turn taking, understanding of the life-cycle/ living things, and to make full use of the existing work garden space.
Malabon Elementary School (Eugene)
- Brooklyn Walker, “First Grade Coding” — Providing first-graders with Ozobots so they can display learning through coding.
Marshfield Junior High School (Coos Bay)
- Karlissa Jones, “Yearbook Photography” — Providing cameras and photography supplies for yearbook students.
McCornack Elementary School (Eugene)
- Karen Olsen, “Anastasia Musical” — Developing and performing the musical, “Anastasia,” with students acting, singing, dancing, and helping with costume design.
Meadow View School (Eugene)
- Jennifer Jones, “Kimochis (feelings) for Kids” — Developing resilience in our students through the Kimochis Curriculum, which teaches emotional vocabulary and tools.
- Eric Wright, “STEM & KiwiCo Engagement” — Inspiring kids to become creative problem solvers through science and art projects.
- Jamie Bennett, “Digital Art & Photography” — Building a station dedicated to creating digital art and photography in our TAB-style studio.
Mind-Full Meadows (Eugene)
- Tiffany Price, “A Mind-Full of Colorfully Creative Music!” — Composing and playing music with fruits, vegetables, and colorful objects fuels student creativity and collaboration. Combined with traditional instruments, the SpecDrums and Playtronica components bring innovation to the forefront.
Monroe Grade School (Monroe)
- Jenna Rank, “STEAM-Based Learning with LEGOS” — Bringing introductory engineering and STEAM concepts to life in the classroom through construction and robotics.
- Samuel Greydanus, “Next Gen Storytellers” — Providing students the tools needed to learn the language and trade of filmmaking.
Monroe High School (Monroe)
- James Mulanax, “Monroe High School Robotics” — The FIRST Tech Challenge allows students to work together as a team to design, build, program, share and test their vision of an efficient robot designed to complete a specific task.
North Albany Elementary School (Albany)
- Craig Koontz, “Who broke the cookie jar?” — Students become crime scene investigators and work together examining and analyzing evidence to solve the mystery of who broke the cookie jar.
North Bend Middle School (North Bend)
- Darren Sinko, “Model Volcanoes” — Having a blast making and erupting model volcanoes in eighth-grade science.
North Marion Middle School (Aurora)
- Chelsea Landry, “Diverse Classroom Libraries & Book Clubs” — Building classroom libraries and book club sets that represent the diversity of our student population and inspire our students to be avid readers.
Oakland Elementary School (Oakland)
- Rose Abbey, “An Adventure in Reading and Teamwork” — Oregon's Battle of the Books is an adventure in teamwork, literary exploration and accomplishment.
Oaklea Middle School (Junction City)
- Angela Wendlowsky, “Art is for Sharing!” — Sharing middle school (grades 5-8) art students' art while social distancing using iPads as analyses tools!
Pacific Crest Middle School (Bend)
- Stacia Biancucci, “Nourishing Our Brains to Build Resilience” — Building our program supplies with social/emotional workbooks and kitchen items to support student regulation and well-being.
Pleasant Hill High School (Pleasant Hill)
- Izabella Gehrke, “Ag in the classroom” — A hands-on lab for elementary and middle school classes to introduce them to agriculture and for them to learn the opportunities that it can provide long term and short term.
Riverview Elementary School (Lebanon)
- Natalia Luebke, “Collaborative Storytelling Through Lego” — Cultivating young storytelling and social skills through the use of the Lego Bricks.
- Laura Warren, “Accelerated Multisensory Learning” — Using puppets as multisensory tools to accelerate learning for K-5 students.
Sage Elementary School (Redmond)
- Gina Dietz, “First Grade STEM Bins” — First Grade STEM Bins will provide multiple opportunities for first-graders to practice problem solving, collaborating, and thinking outside the box, to create innovative engineering structures.
- Ashley McDonough, "Brain Bags” — Individualized "brain bags" to provide extra practice for previously taught skills and creating an enrichment opportunity to differentiate the needs for each first-grade student.
Scotts Mills Elementary School (Scotts Mills)
- Lisa Garrett, "Spark an Idea with Reading!” — Library kits would be created with books and STEM materials to learn at home with the whole family.
Territorial Elementary School (Junction City)
- Sherrene Kulm, "Territorial's Portable Outdoor Classroom” — A Portable Outdoor Classroom that takes learning outside and allows all students to learn in a mask-free environment while maintaining socially-distanced protocols.
Timber Ridge School (Albany)
- Eleanor Herro, "Legacy Garden” — Purchasing supplies to build a seedling rack to build a legacy garden in which students will start, plant, grow, harvest, and cook fruits and vegetables grown in the school garden.
Tom McCall Elementary School (Redmond)
- Natalie Richards, "National Parks STEAM Partner Project” — Creating 3D maps of various National Parks complete with a coded park ranger 'SPHERO' to promote teamwork and communication, research, and an introduction to lifelong computer science skills.
Trinity Lutheran School (Bend)
- Alisa Jeffries, "Exploring from Above: Geo Spacial Mapping” — Identifying landmarks through Geospacial mapping using drones around Bend.
Twality Middle School (Portland)
- Brandy Hill, "Tinkering Kits for NEW Innovations Class” — Students will use tinkering kits to launch a new Innovations class.
West Albany High School (Albany)
- Joey Running, "Cadet Teachers and Financial Literacy Month” — Students interested in elementary/middle school teaching as a career share Personal Finance through age-appropriate books during Financial Literacy Month.
Western Christian School (Salem)
- Tiffanie Bradley, "Medical Attire and Equipment for Health and Spanish Classes” — Purchasing medical attire and equipment to be used as realia for teaching Spanish, as well as for health-related skits in both health and Spanish classes.
Whitworth Elementary School (Dallas)
- Julie Reimer, "Makerspace Materials” — Filling a Makerspace area with the tools, supplies, and storage needed to help fuel students' creativity.
- Deanne Harms, "Real News” — Producing newscasts from quality resources with a well-informed voice.
- Ellen Lewing, "Drums Alive in Exercise” — Incorporating "Drums Alive," an innovative group fitness program that intertwines aerobic exercise with rhythmic drumming, into elementary Music & PE classrooms.
Woodburn Arthur Academy (Woodburn)
- Amanda Rojas, "Monarch Butterfly School Garden” — Creating the school learning garden to allow for the learning of the life cycle of the endangered Monarch Butterfly.
A reflection of SELCO’s values
Thank you to the 64 educators and 55 schools who brought these ideas to life. Your passion and ingenuity are a good reminder that students should learn in environments where curiosity blooms, imagination thrives, and students feel seen.
Interested in bringing a classroom project to life?
Learn more about how we’re supporting classrooms, students, and educators across Oregon at selco.org/educators. You can also check out the additional ways SELCO Steps Up for our communities at selco.org/steps-up.
