Trussville City Schools Foundation awards MUSH grants

Students can now travel back in time to World War I, view the streets of Spain, design and shoot a catapult, discover perfect pitch, star in their own show and so much more thanks to a dozen MUSH Grants presented by Trussville City Schools Foundation this past February. 

Nearly $10,000 was awarded to teachers at all five Trussville schools.  

The grant program, which is in its second year for TCSF, distributes community-raised funds based through an application process to assist teachers in purchasing classroom tools that are motivational, unique, strategic and helpful (MUSH).

“We didn’t want to fund paper and pencil. We wanted to really look at giving teachers the resources they need to really be progressive and think outside the box to give the additional enhancement resources they need to enrich their curriculum,” said Chris Theriot, one of the TCSF board members who helped write the grant program. 

Because the grant funds are presented in the second semester of the year, sometimes teachers do not implement the project until the following year. However, both of the 2017-18 recipients from HTMS have already begun using their grants. 

Eighth-grade algebra teacher Loree Rhyne decided it was time to show students how math relates to the real world with hands-on activities. She applied for and received $850 to purchase a 3-D printer, materials and Calculator Based Rangers (CBRs) for her 86 students taking Algebra 1. Her students use computer animation design (CAD) to design and 3-D print their own catapults and then use the CBRs to record and graph the projectiles’ vertex, range and velocity to learn about quadratics.

“Some students were surprised that they were going to get to actually 3-D print their projects,” Rhyne said. “I enjoyed seeing students flourish with this freedom within the parameters of the assignment.”

Rhyne said she wanted a project which could answer the “When are we ever going to use this?” question she often receives. 

“I thought coming up with an example and one tangible answer for that question would be something my students would really enjoy,” Rhyne said. “I hope that the hands-on activity can help the students visualize the parabolic motions of catapults and projectiles in helping with the understanding of the unit.”

Rachel Brockman, library media specialist, received an $881 grant to supplement an Alabama Department of Education computer science grant to purchase Raspberry Pi kits, which contain small devised and digital displays to simulate a programmable computer. She plans to have the kits available for check out at the HTMS library this month. 

“Every year in Alabama, and across the nation, there is a great disparity between the number of computer science related jobs and the number of graduates in the field. We are trying to spark interest in the field so that when our students leave us, they may pursue the great computer science coursework we offer at the high school and consider it as a career. We have to graduate students who can fill these jobs,” Brockman said. 

The middle school grants are only a few of the STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) grants received. At Magnolia, Tiffany Reed received $242 to help students design and construct projects to help understand engineering skills, and Lauren Long received a $1,000 grant to acquire five iPod Touches to use for 360-degree photos and coding applications in robotics for the school’s STEM Lab.

Lisa Rish at Cahaba Elementary will utilize her $800 grant to help with her class room’s WE SEE curriculum, which stands for Wonder, Examine, See, Explore and Engineer. At the high school, Tom Moulton received $975 to purchase force sensors and temperature probes for his Principles of Engineering course to allow smaller groups to acquire data for analysis.

While most may be attracted to the STEM-related grants, half of this year’s grants will be utilized in rooms outside the scope of science and math. “My hope for it is you’ll have a lot of the classical disciplines like foreign language, art, literature, history and music,” Theriot said. 

Paine Elementary music teacher Dr. Brian Cocke plans to use iPads for students to improve their singing and pitch-matching, while Rebecca Bishop at Magnolia Elementary received $1,000 to purchase more Braille books for the school’s visually-impaired students. Amy Prickett at Cahaba Elementary received more than $800 to build “Cahaba Presents,” where students can use a digital studio in the library to script and record a show on their favorite book.

At HTHS, Tim Stull and Nick Lemonds plan to use Google virtual reality to help their AP World History and Spanish classes, respectively, explore different parts of the world. Amy Ramer will look to use virtual learning at Paine Elementary through the use of iPod Touch for her students. 

“I think the viewers will present an opportunity to make history come to life for my students,” Stull said. “I’m excited to see how they react to this type of technology.”

With an increase from $7,500 awarded in 2017, Theriot said the MUSH program is showing results. 

“The teachers have responded really well. We can see with each cycle the teachers are really being strategic and the requests we are getting are really good.”