RelyOn Credit Union has awarded a total of $3,000 to three local teachers who applied for RelyOn’s first annual Classroom Scholarship. The goal of the Classroom Scholarship was to provide teachers who have accounts at RelyOn the opportunity to supplement their classroom with funds that they might not receive otherwise. “Every teacher I’ve spoken to has said that they use their own funds to purchase supplies for their classroom. We saw a need in our local community and while we would love to give every teacher $1,000, we wanted to help as much as we could,” says RelyOn’s CEO Sarah Spooner.
Applicants for the Classroom Scholarship were prompted to tell a little bit about themselves, how their students RelyOn them and how they would use the $1,000 if selected. “We had our work cut out for us with so many applicants that were well deserving,” RelyOn board member Carolyn Mize stated.
Two winning teachers were selected from Kaufman ISD. Amy Gardner is Response To Intervention (R.T.I) teacher at Nash Elementary. When asked what a R.I.T. class involves, she explained it as “children on the same reading levels needing extra help to get to the reading level he or she needs to be on before going to the next grade.” Ms. Gardner will be using her Classroom Scholarship to purchase a big bookshelf to keep all of other curriculum in, as well as additional Fountas and Pinnell Curriculum lessons that she utilizes to teach. Melissa Ramirez, also from Kaufman ISD, teaches at J.R. Phillips Elementary as an R.T.I. teacher as well. She will be using her Classroom Scholarship to “help each student have the necessary supplies for school. Each student deserves that!” Ms. Ramirez.
The third Classroom Scholarship winner is Krystle McFarlin from Crandall ISD. Ms. McFarlin is a kindergarten teacher at Barbara Walker Elementary. Ms. McFarlin knows that kindergarten can be tough on students who have never had to sit still and work on classwork for 8 hours a day. That’s why Ms. McFarlin will be purchasing flexible seating for her classroom, “Flexible seating allows the students to move around and get their wiggles out right there at their own work area.”
“Teachers in our local communities go above and beyond and they should get the support they need,” states RelyOn’s Chief Operations Officer Tony LaTour. “We’re excited to provide the Classroom Scholarship to this year’s winners and look forward to doing so again next year.” Looking to the future, RelyOn will offer not only the Classroom Scholarship next year but plans to partner with individual schools in Kaufman County to create Student Run Branches. The goal for the Student Run Branches is to equip students with life skills relevant to personal money management and support the curriculum teachings of math and banking.
