SJSD Foundation surprises educators with Apple Seed Grants to help classroom projects

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (KQTV) -- The St. Joseph School District Foundation awarded ten Apple Seed Grants during surprise visits to several St. Joseph schools. 

During “surprise patrol” visits, the foundation presented funding for classroom and schoolwide projects. 

The Apple Seed Grants support SJSD educators and recognize programs which give St. Joseph School District students hands-on learning experiences. 

The foundation’s grant allocation committee reviewed proposals from SJSD staff, looking for innovative educational ideas. 

The approved grants total more than $23,000.  

Alisha Payne, an educator at Robidoux Elementary School, received an Apple Seed grant to create the Badger Builders Makers Lab, a hands-on space where students can bring their ideas to life through building, designing, inventing and experimenting. 

“My son loves to build and loves to create and this summer we received an email about the Apple Seed grant opportunity and my son had been asking me if we could have a building club,” she said.  

That gave Payne the idea to apply for the grant and create a Badger Builders Makers Lab at her school. 

She said she believes it is important for students to have opportunities to explore their creativity, experiment with new ideas and build whatever they can imagine.  

“I am really excited. I wasn’t sure if we would get it or not so I had been crossing my fingers and hoping and my son had a little countdown for it,” Payne added.  

Tori Cordero, a preschool general education teacher at Lake Early Learning Center, was another recipient of the grant. She plans to use the funding to create an outdoor learning space where preschool students can explore and learn through gardening. 

Cordero said the space will give students a chance to develop a variety of skills while learning outside the classroom.  

“There’s going to be a lot of opportunity for them to be exploring outside just using a lot of different skills as far as problem-solving, science and some math skills,” she said.  

Cordero said the goal is to give students more opportunities to learn outdoors in a dedicated space. Right now, the school does not have a designated area where students can participate in hands-on outdoor learning. 

The grant will help make that possible. 

“We are going to start for specific supplies that we need and hopefully the plan is that the kids can help us when we get those supplies set up,” Cordero said.  

Julie Cobb, executive director of the SJSD Foundation, said the grants are designed to help educators turn classroom ideas into reality.  

“We give educators the opportunity to apply over the summer and we close the application sometime in September and then in October we go for these surprise patrol visits,” Cobb said.  

Grant amounts vary depending on the project, ranging from about $200 to as much as $7,000 or $8,000.

With the grants awarded, educators can now begin purchasing supplies and putting their plans into action. 

At the end of the school year, recipients will submit an evaluation to the foundation, sharing how their projects went and the impact they had on students.