Silver Valley Kiwanis supports local schools with grant funding

KELLOGG — The Silver Valley Kiwanis Club has awarded grants to two Silver Valley educators to help them expand their classrooms and their lessons.

Given out in June of this year, Kellogg High School teacher Eli Bourgard and Kellogg Middle School teacher Patricia Hoeck were informed that they would be receiving $500 and $1,000 respectively to use on specific projects that they were working on this year.

The grant itself is available to full-time teachers within the Kellogg, Wallace or Mullan school districts that apply. To be considered, Kiwanis asks that the applicant must show how the grant funds would be “used on a project/idea within the classroom which supplements their school curriculum and enhances the learning experience of their students.”

This is the first year that the organization has handed out a grant of this type. The decision of who received the funds was left to the Scholarship Sub-Committee of four people, who then selected the two recipients.

Impressed with their projects and presentations, Silver Valley Kiwanis Board and Scholarship Committee member Tobey Hojem was pleased with their selection of recipients.

“We all agreed they were the best candidates,” she said.

Silver Valley Kiwanis Vice President and Scholarship Committee board member Ben Allen explained that the idea to create the grant was based on providing a springboard for teachers who want to find creative ways to teach students, which would otherwise be made impracticable by financial burdens.

“I have always simply had a soft spot in my heart for our public education system and am always looking for ways that we can create a better and brighter future for the next generation,” he said. “Next, I believe our teachers in this state are underpaid, particularly those who work in rural areas. Lastly, the way budgets and pay structures are designed, when a teacher comes along who is ambitious about implementing a non-traditional teaching mechanism into their curriculum and desires to go above and beyond in their teaching duties to create a fun and impactful learning environment, it is often difficult for them to obtain the necessary resources in order to pursue such ideas.”

Silver Valley Kiwanis hopes to offer the grant again next year and appreciates the support they receive from the local area to make it possible.

“We would like to thank the community for their support,” Hojem said. “They attend our fundraisers which allow us to raise money for the youth of the Silver Valley and that, is what Kiwanis is all about.”