Grant Recipients
Freshman Days of Challenge
Every member of the new Sun Prairie High School freshman class participated in Freshman Days of Challenge on Monday, Aug. 25 or Tuesday, Aug. 26 as part of their orientation to their new school. The sessions are designed to help students become more aware of their perceptions of others and of themselves. Diversity Training Consultant Santo Carfora led the groups in communications and trust building exercises meant to help them appreciate diversity. One such exercise was "the power shuffle", where Carfora calls out different categories, such as "my parents are divorced", and any kids that belong in that category step forward. "It helps kids realize there's a lot of others in the same boat", said SPHS Athletic Director Jim McClowry. The incoming freshmen also played games like the "scissors walk", where one student must walk between two rows of students with their arms extended at neck level and trust that the group will move their arms in time for them to pass.
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| Teacher(s) | Name of School | Amount | Fund/Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total Grants | $61,468.09 | ||
| Fall 2005 | |||
| Mary McDonnell Carol Suchomel | Eastside Elementary School | $1,300.00 | Interactive reading materals for 2nd Graders |
| Spring 2006 | |||
| Andy Tauber Mark Orvick | Senior High | $1,000.00 | Building a work ethic through Voc. Ed. |
| Leia McMillan Carol Mitchell | Prairie View Middle School Patrick Marsh Middle School | $620.00 | Disability Awareness through Wheel chair |
| Christine Adams | Westside Elementary School | $2,411.00 | K-2 Math Resource Room |
| R5 Productions | Middle Schools & Senior High Patrick Marsh Middle School Prairie View Middle School | $4,000.00 | Motivational Speakers |
| Fall 2006 | |||
| Homework Club Kari Annen Carolyn Miller | Northside Elementary School | $200.00 | Taxi Vouchers for participating students |
| Break with Books Sandy Kowalczyk | Patrick Marsh Middle School | $500.00 | Before school reading club for those students at risk |
| Creative Writing Club Nicole Rainey | Westside Elementary School | $248.00 | After school writing club-open all to all students |
| SP Scholar Society Sarah Benish | Senior High | $2,400.00 | Support group for high achieving African american students |
| Environmental Assessment of Token Creek Watershed Scott Kloehn | Senior High | $2,000.00 | Science students participating in the environmental assessment |
| Total for 2006: | $13,379.00 | ||
| Spring 2007 | |||
| Real Inspiration, Inc. | Middle schools & Senior High | $3,000.00 | Motivational Speakers |
| Tammy Florek | Both Middle Schools | $353.45 | Healthy Minds, Healthy Bodies |
| S. Hart / J. Laveck | Senior High | $3,200.00 | Shoulder to Shoulder |
| Michelle Gassman | Prairie View Middle School | $250.00 | The Kid Who Ran For President |
| Sheba McCants | Prairie View Middle School | $2,000.00 | SP Leadership & Culture Camp |
| Faraj A. Faraj | Middle schools & Senior High | $1,500.00 | Cultural / Inspirational Speaker |
| Fall 2007 | |||
| Jayne Moodie Kris Reed | District wide | $500.00 | All Sports for All Students: Using Ninetendo WII for students with special needs in a variety of individual & team sports. |
| Science Club Steve Herandez | Senior High | $1,700.00 | Purchase of GDS tracking devices and creation of an organic garden. |
| Freshman Day Nancy Nikolay James McClowry | Senior High | $3,500.00 | Two day workshop, similar to Challenge Day, used for freshman orientation. |
| Oral History Proj. Robert J. Meyer, III | Senior High | $330.00 | Purchase of digital recording devices to be used to record interviews of Sun Prairie community members. |
| Horizon Elementary | $800.00 | "Big Books" purchased for 1st graders to improve literacy skills. | |
| Total for 2007: | $17,133.45 | ||
| Spring 2008 | |||
| Jill Bandli | Creekside Elementary | $945.64 | Listening Center Library for Grades K - 5. |
| Fall 2008 | |||
| Rainey Briggs | Prairie View Middle School Patrick Marsh Middle School Senior High School | $3,800.00 | Speaker: Keith Burkes. Motivational speaker addressing achievement, diversity, connectedness between students, families and the community. |
| Jennifer Odau | All 7 elementary schools | $7,000.00 | Speaker: Patricia Polacco. Celebrated children's author. |
| Robyn Kademan | Patrick Marsh Middle School | $1,327.00 | Four focused field trips to: Kettle Morrain, Promega, UW-Madison Chemistry Dept., UW-Madison Engineering Dept. to excite 8th graders about careers in science. |
| Candie Douglas | Senior High (190 students) Many, Many senior citizens | $500.00 | SPHS choirs will perform at nursing homes and assisted living environments in Sun Prairie. |
| Sarah Bennish | Senior High School | $2,440.00 | Support academic success by creating a positive chort amongst high achieving black students. |
| Kathy Janssen | Westside Students K-3 | $2,200.00 | Small group, supplementary, reading intervention designed to prevent literacy difficulites rather than remediate long term reading failure. |
| Sandra Kowalczyk | Patrick Marsh Middle School | $500.00 | Bringing the National Geographic giant traveling map to Sun Prairie. Map is 41 ft. x 31 ft. It will encourage students to "Go Global" by participating in activities to enliven the study of geography. |
| Audrey Lesondak | Patrick Marsh Middle School | $725.00 | Project will introduce and expose youth from immigrant familes to careers and professions that require higher levels of education for success as a means to encourage immigrant youth to potentially pursue these options: school-community connections and college experiences. |
| Kelly Redding | Prairie View Middle School | $450.00 | Provide students with disabilities an opportunity to gain life skills by operating a small business inside the school selling coffee products. |
| Chris Gleason | Patrick Marsh Middle School Prairie View Middle School Senior High School | $3,000.00 | Composer-in residence project impacting 680 students, joining forces with other funding sources to give students an opportunity to work with composer through all stages of composition and performance. |
| Christine Adams | Creekside Elementary | Build a deeper understanding of mathematical concepts through literacy and games. Purchased materials will be housed in LMC and available for all SPASD students and teacher to check out and utilize. | |
| Carol Mitchell | Patrick Marsh Middle School CH Bird School Prairie View Middle School | $500.00 | Educating students and staff regarding disability awareness, enhance diversity, and further an inclusive school setting. |
| Kari Engleson (SP Business Per.) | Senior High School | $500.00 | Vocal workshop with opera singer Kyle Ketelsen. Provides 180 SPHS choral students and opportunity to experince a world class performer. |
| Total for 2008: | $23,887.64 | ||
| Spring 2009 | |||
| Creekside 1st Gr. teachers: Bandi, Grady, Kearby, Nett | Creekside Elementary School | $750.00 | Cook Me Up A Story: Authentic literature from Big Books will be used to integrate many subject areas to complete week long book studies that will end up with a cooking project. |
| Janice Mertes | Senior High School | $648.00 | Creation of a time capsule and museum display showing the history of Sun Prairie High School. It will also include a digitial video. |
| Janice Mertes | Senior High School | $1,770.00 | SPHS Classroom 2010 Student Smart*ies will capitalize on student technology skills to become classroom 2010 mentors. |
| Principal Ryan | Senior High School | $500.00 | The SPHS Pro-Start students will prepare breakfast for a randomly selected group of students (and one administrator) each month. The goal is to promote cultural competence and improve school climate. |
| Chad Whalley | Senior High School | $300.00 | This program aims to build the music mentor program by partnering an older orchestra student with a 5th grader just beginning orchestra. |
| Jim McClowery | Senior High School | $1,800.00 | Year long initiative to provide 70 students with an opportunity to hear guest speaker, Craig Hillier, speak at a day long workshop about student leadership. |
| Total for 2009: | $5,768.00 | ||
