Public Education Partners (PEP) awarded $24,000 to educators to fund nine Quality Teaching Grants for the 2019-2020 school year, two Mullins Grant for Quality Teaching, and seven Building STEAM grants.

“The purpose of our grants programs at PEP is to insure we are helping provide resources for innovative classroom instruction, and to support administrators and schools in teacher retention and recruitment efforts,” said Dr. Julie Smart, member of PEP’s Board of Directors and head of the grants committee. “I would like to thank everyone who worked with me to review these amazing proposals, such a display of innovative instruction and programmatic ideas in Greenville County.”

The Building STEAM grant supports projects that incorporate aspects of science, technology, engineering, arts, and/or mathematics (STEAM). This year, seven projects representing elementary, middle, and high schools and centers across Greenville County were selected. The winning Building STEAM submissions are:

• “Robo Revolution: Students will learn to compete in teams in various robotics engineering challenges,” by Chris Beyerle, Fisher Middle School.
• “FBLA/Special Education Joint Venture: To learn effective business strategies and skills that will be beneficial in the future,” by Kim Black & Angela Blakely, Sevier Middle School.
• “Innovative Photographic Surface Designs on Metals, Fabric, Paper,” by Katy Cassell, Zane Logan & Donna Shank, Fine Arts Center.
• “The Hovercraft Project: Building a fleet of fully functional, safe and reusable hovercrafts,” by Julie Cooke, Lake Forest Elementary School.
• “Ed (rone) ucation: Drone project to assist in designing campus improvements,” by Luke Drevets, Woodmont High School.
• “This Research is Full of STEAM: Project emphasizes traditional scientific research in the classroom,” by Dr. Monica Hughey, Berea Middle School.
• “Piloting Promotion with UAVs,” by James Willey, Wade Hampton High School.

The Mullins Grant for Quality Teaching supports schools as they create and pursue school-wide efforts to increase the likelihood of teachers returning to the same teaching site the following year. The winning submissions for the Mullins Grant for Quality Teaching are:

• “Stop, Collaborate, and Listen: To help increase teacher's knowledge of social and emotional learning,” by Julie Cooke, Principal of Lake Forest Elementary School.
• “Compassionate Educators Inspiring Excellence: Teachers participating in Compassionate Schools training and how it will support teacher retention,” by Dr. Adrienne Davenport, Principal of Bryson Middle School.

For more information on Building STEAM, the Mullins grant, and other PEP initiatives, or to get involved, call 864-233-4137, visit pepgc.org or find us on social media @PEPGreenville.