Education Foundation Innovation Celebration

by Charlotte Kovalchuk • photos courtesy Liberty Hill ISD Education Foundation

The Liberty Hill ISD budget does not always enable teachers to provide all of the innovative, enriching opportunities they would like to provide their students. However, 25 grants totaling $51,256 awarded by the Liberty Hill ISD Education Foundation in December have expanded their ability to provide greater educational experiences for students at all grade levels.

Formed by a group of caring and committed citizens who share a vision to enhance educational opportunities and student success, the LHEF provides annual grants to support teachers’ projects that lie outside the district’s budget. Just before the Christmas break, members of the foundation, district staff, and campus principals surprised grant recipients in their classrooms with oversized checks. “We are very fortunate to have so many talented teachers in LHISD. They continually strive to provide new and innovative teaching strategies to improve the learning ex- perience for our students,” Foundation President Mike Bowles says. “With the generous support we receive from the community, the Education Foundation is proud to help foster the innovation of our amazing LHISD teachers.”

Pages To Palettes

One of those teachers, Misti Schulz, was excited to receive $2,000 for her Elementary and High School Authors and Artists Collab project at Liberty Hill and Bill Burden Elementary Schools and Liberty Hill High School. An art teacher at LHHS, Misti teamed up with other art teachers to en-courage elementary students to write stories and create characters before passing them on to high school art students, who will create illustrations for the stories.

The goal, Misti says, is to cultivate visual arts and literary skills.

“I wanted to create a project that spanned many grade levels and encouraged students to combine their core and elective skills. I feel it’s important for students to understand that they can develop a love for multiple facets of their education,” she says. “We are very humbled and honored to be able to reach our students in a deeper and meaningful way with the additional funds we have been gifted. The generous support of the foundation has made a significant impact for many years, and we feel blessed to be a part of that legacy.”

Stem Projects

Daniel Paschal, robotics teacher at LHHS, received $5,000 for new swerve drive technology that will enable their robots to be driven much faster in any direction, as well as increase the Robotic Team's chances at com- petitions. Last year Liberty Hill students placed 34th out of nearly 200 teams at the state FIRST Robotics Competition, and this year they hope to be ranked in the top 30 teams, which will advance them to the world competition.

Travis Clark, a teacher at Santa Rita Middle School, says he could not be more excited about the $381 grant that will enable his students to build CO2-powered dragsters and 2-liter bottle rockets. The goal of the rocket challenge is to get an egg in the nose cone to land safely from 100200 feet. “It is such a great way to teach our sixth-grade students how their education collides with real-world science and physics. Our budget of $770 for 200+ students doesn’t allow us to do all the fun things I’d like, and thanks to the LHEF it really helps us out!”

2023 Grant Awardees

• Stories and Canvas: Elementary and HS Authors and Artists Collab: $2,000, Liberty Hill High School

• Carnipalooza 2024: $2,800, Liberty Hill High School

• Liberty Hill Bionic Panthers Robotics Team: $5,000, Liberty Hill High School

• INCubatoredu / Entrepreneur: $3,000, Liberty Hill High School

• Outdoor Classroom: $3,000, Liberty Hill Elementary

• Motor/Sensory Lab: $800, Louine Noble Elementary School

• Pocket Lab Equipment Grant: $4,500, Liberty Hill Middle School

• Building a Thinking Classroom with Vertical Workspace: $2,300, Liberty Hill Middle School

• Sensory Outdoor Learning Center: $800, Liberty Hill Middle School

• Empty Bowls: $1,400, Liberty Hill Middle School

• Mark It Up with Math!: $2,400, Bill Burden Elementary

• Decodable Phonics Books Will Improve Reading Skills: $960, Rancho Sienna Elementary

• Cultural Literacy for Kinders: $2,115, Rancho Sienna Elementary

• SPED / All Abilities / Pre-K Playground: $2,000, Rancho Sienna Elementary

• STEAM Ozobots: $3,500, Santa Rita Elementary

• Guaranteed Game Changer: $1,000, Santa Rita Elementary

• Building Future Authors: $700, Santa Rita Elementary

• Empowering Champions through Project: $3,500, Santa Rita Middle School

• MiniOne: Elevating Excellence with Hands On Discovery Labs: $1,000, Santa Rita Middle School

• Makerspace Launchers!: $381, Santa Rita Middle School

• Book Vending Machine: $2,000, Santa Rita Middle School

• Sensory Seekers: $1,500, Bar W Elementary

• Centered Around Our Scholars: $2,500, Bar W Elementary

• Stimulating Sensory Bins: $1,500, Bar W Elementary

Visit lhisdeducationfoundation.org to learn more about the Liberty Hill ISD Education Foundation.