Dee Scritchfield (right) Little Kanawha Area Community Foundation
Board Member, presents a $5,000 grant check to Brittany Knicely
(left) Art Teacher at Writ County Primary Center, on Thursday
Our Community's Foundation - Parkersburg Area Community Foundation and Regional Affiliates of Doddridge, Jackson, Little Kanawha Area, Mason and Ritchie Counties - has awarded $55,000 in grants to support twelve area school projects.
Wirt County Primary Center received a $5,000 Arts-In-Education grant for an "Art and Learning Garden Project". The school began its project this month by utilizing the grant funds to create a garden and outdoor classroom that will engage students in activities integrating art into science, math, technology and engineering experiences.
This project has a variety of community partners including the Parkersburg Art Center, Wirt Primary PTO, Simms' Greenhouses, Wirt County High School FFA students, West Virginia University at Parkersburg and Wirt County Extension.
The elementary students will learn how to work with a variety of art media and have a rare opportunity to see real artists at work while being exposed to many different types of artwork.
These unique grants were made possible by a special partnership with the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation of Pittsburgh. The Benedum Foundation's purpose through this initiative is to provide community leadership in supporting projects that integrate the arts with core education disciplines and to stimulate partnerships between local schools and community artisans and arts organizations.
The initiative emphasizes integration of the arts with science, technology, math and engineering content objectives to improve attainment of West Virginia content goals in these areas while enhancing classroom experiences for students.
Wirt County High School also received a $4,000 for an "Outdoor Classroom". This effort will involve several different artists participating in classroom experiences and working with students to design an outdoor space, engaging many different groups in the project. This project will start later this fall.
Foundation Executive Director Judy Sjostedt said, "We are really excited about the opportunities this special initiative allows Our Community's Foundation to offer to our region's schools.
The teachers involved with these projects are to be commended for their extra effort in securing these resources to develop school relationships with arts organizations that benefit their students.
We especially thank the additional private funder partners would added more resources so larger scale projects could be supported. We know the students will really enjoy participating in these projects and improve their knowledge in the process."
More news will be reported as each partnership progresses within its local county. For more information, visit the Our Community's Foundation website at www.pacfwv.com or e-mail info@pacfwv.com
The Little Kanawha Area Community Foundation (LKACF) serves Wirt and Calhoun Counties and is a regional affiliate of Our Community's Foundation.
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