East Mountain High School seeks grants from private and public funding sources to enhance students’ access to educational opportunities and to strengthen the programs offered by the school. Grant funding is crucial to our ability to ensure that EMHS students are 100% prepared for success in college and beyond. We appreciate the funding partners who are investing in our success and making this effort possible.
Energy Exploration Grant
PNM
$2,000
Olga Vazquez
Grant funding from the PNM Foundation supports the teaching of concepts about energy. Vazquez was one of only thirty-eight teachers state-wide to receive the grant, worth up to $2,000. Grants are awarded to teachers whose projects best ask and creatively answer a question about energy. Vazquez received funding to use solar powered robots to demonstrate unusual uses of alternative energy. For example, after the Deepwater Horizon well spewed millions of barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, solar powered floating robots were deployed to help with the clean-up effort. With the funding from PNM, Ms. Vazquez’s students will build a solar powered robot capable of fighting fires and will test its capabilities against traditional robots in the annual RoboRave competition.
Wells Fargo Teacher's Partner Program
Golden Apple Foundation of New Mexico
$1000
Dave Naylor
November 2011
Dave Naylor's project will allow students to explore the fabulous art of lapidary. Students will explore the geology of New Mexico, collect their own stones and polish those stones into jewelry-ready pieces. With support from the Golden Apple Foundation of New Mexico and Wells Fargo, students will connect with the rich history and tradition of jewelry making in New Mexico.
Tomorrow's Leaders Program
New Mexico First
$2,000
Vincent Langan
August 2011
Funding from New Mexico First, supported by Sandia National Laboratories and the H.W. Sumners Foundation, provides for the Tomorrow's Leaders Program at East Mountain High School. Students in the Tomorrow's Leaders program organized a town hall meeting on education and the environment involving dialogue between youth and community leaders.
State Farm Good Neighbor Citizenship Program
State Farm Companies Foundation
$5,000
East Mountain High School
August 2011
State Farm grant funding supports the East Mountain High School mission of college readiness for ALL students. The grant funding will allow EMHS to provide after-school tutoring in math and reading three days a week and to use college-readiness assessments such as the ACT, PLAN and EXPLORE to assess teaching and learning at the school.
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LANL Small Grant Program
Los Alamos National Laboratory Foundation
$1,500
Olga Vazquez
Funding from the Los Alamos National Laboratory Foundation will purchase Lego Mindstorm kits for the MESA Math and Science Team so that they can compete in events such as RoboRave.
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Lowe's Toolbox for Education Grant
Lowe's Charitable and Educational Foundation
$3,875
East Mountain High School SPSO
Funding from the Lowe's Charitable and Educational Foundation supports converting a kitchenette at East Mountain High School into a snack bar so that students can have a wider variety of healthy lunch options. As a charter school, East Mountain High School lacks a cafeteria and because of our rural location we can't get a caterer bring lunch to students. With the grant funding from Lowe's, we will add a commercial refrigerator and freezer, a three compartment sink and a convection oven. Once the snack bar is renovated, we will be able to sell options like yogurt, sandwiches, pizza, burritos and other healthy, prepackaged foods.
Target Field Trip Grant
Target
$700
Michael Jamison
Grant funding from the Target Field Trip Grant Program will support Michael Jamison's project -- What We Eat. Funds will be used to bring students to Los Poblanos Farm to experience local organic agriculture.
Wells Fargo Teacher's Partner Program
The Golden Apple Foundation of New Mexico
$1,000
Michael Jamison
Grant funding from the Wells Fargo Teacher's Partner Program supports innovative instruction and educational experiences. Over 210 applicants were received and 33 were funded. Michael Jamison's project -- What We Eat -- received funding to introduce students to healthy eating habits and to teach students to question the impact of what they eat on their health, the environment and our society.
Target
Target Arts in Education Grant
$2,000
Michael Wood
East Mountain High School received a Target Arts in Education grant of $2,000 to support the music program at East Mountain High School through the purchase of a class set of student guitars. Before the grant, students had to bring their own guitars, limiting who could take and class and making consistency of instruction an issue. Now students are learning more and improving faster, according to Music Teacher Michael Wood. This grant is part of ongoing efforts by Target to strengthen families and communities throughout the country. Since opening its doors, Target has given 5 percent of its income to organizations that support education, the arts, social services and volunteerism. Today that equals more than $3 million every week.
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Captain Planet Grant
Captain Planet Foundation
$1,000
Bradd Schulke, Michael Jamison & Mark Yerkes
Funding from the Captain Planet Foundation supports the Acequia Project. The Acequia Project brings together students in Environmental Science, New Mexico History and Video Production to learn about the history and traditions of a local acequia, complete water quality monitoring of the acequia and create educational materials about the acequia to share with the larger community.
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Partners in Fish and Wildlife Schoolyard Habitat Grant
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
$7,500
Bradd Schulke & Marisa Salazar
Grant funding supports improvements to the 26 acre EMHS campus to improve wildlife habitat through enhancing the soil’s ability to retain water. Junior environmental science students are working on designing and creating these changes as a part of their Inquiry Projects.
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Energy Exploration Grant
PNM
$1,000
Marisa Salazar
Grant funding supports the teaching of solar energy and improvements to the EMHS schoolyard garden. Students will use solar powered irrigation pumps and water from the EMHS water catchment system to irrigate the EMHS schoolyard garden.
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Energy Exploration Grant
PNM
$1,000
Olga Vazquez
Grant funding supports the teaching of wind energy and the construction of the model wind turbine on the EMHS campus. Students in Physical Science classes are testing the best design of wind turbine blades using principles of aerodynamics and learning how physical energy can be converted into electrical energy and used to power classrooms.
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Excellence in Education Grant
State Farm Good Neighbor Program
$5,000
Shawn Childers, Trey Smith & Doug Wine
State Farm believes that giving back to the community is an important part of learning. This grant funding supports the Senior Service Project. All seniors at EMHS are required to research a community issue and develop a project addressing this community need in partnership with an experienced agency or organization. Through service learning, students practice academic skills in a real world context.
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Education & Environmental Preservation Grant
Albuquerque Community Foundation
$5,000
Bradd Schulke, Michael Jamison & Mark Yerkes
The Albuquerque Community Foundation supports projects in the areas of education, arts, health and human services throughout Albuquerque. The Acequia Project brings together students in Environmental Science, New Mexico History and Video Production to learn about the history and traditions of a local acequia, complete water quality monitoring of the acequia and create educational materials about the acequia to share with the larger community.
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Teacher Development Grant
McCarthey Dressman Educational Foundation
$10,000
Jim Smith, Marisa Salazar, Nathan Zerbe, Olga Vazquez & Bradd Schulke
The mission of the McCarthey Dressman Educational Foundation is to serve as a catalyst in maximizing the skills and creativity of educators at the k-12 levels and in cultivating pioneering approaches to teaching that result in dynamic student learning. The Foundation sponsors proposals that enhance student learning and educational quality. At East Mountain High School, funding is being used to transform the way science is being taught across grade levels and traditional disciplines. You can see the results of the Science Department searching for new ways to teach science in the Big Ideas in Science projects and the integration of Chemistry into Physical Science at the 9th grade level and Biology at the 10th grade level.
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Dollar General Youth Literacy Grant
Dollar General Youth Literacy Foundation
$3,000
Shawn Childers
The Dollar General Youth Literacy Grant provides funding to enhance and improve the EMHS Library. The library should be and is more than a repository for books; it is a hub of reading, writing and research. Dollar General funding helps provide Gale Group software for improved research opportunities and increased support for students seeking help with their Inquiry Projects or other assignments.
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Sprint Character Education Grant
Sprint Foundation
$5,000
Ayesha Sundram
The Sprint Character Education Program provides funding to improve safety, culture and behavioral health in schools. At EMHS, the funding provided by Sprint supports the Natural Helpers program. The Natural Helpers program trains students who already provide informal support to students going through emotional or other difficulties, and teaches them how to respond in these situations, when to ask for help and how to take care of their own emotional needs. The Natural Helpers group also organizes activities to improve the overall school culture at EMHS, such as freshman mentoring.
Employee Community Fund
Boeing
$3,500
Dave Lang
June 2010
The Boeing Employee’s Community Fund supports the teaching and learning of mathematics. The grant will be used to transform a classroom at EMHS into a math lab, with the addition of technology that will allow the teacher to display student work on the board using a document camera and will allow students to respond to teachers’ questions with an interactive handheld device. These systems, known as rapid response systems, or clickers, give students the opportunity to privately answer a question, while giving the teacher the opportunity to assess how well the class has understood a concept. Assessment happens instantly, not just during quizzes and tests, allowing teachers to adjust instruction and improve learning on the spot.