The East Grand Rapids Schools Foundation is funding thirty classroom and experiential grants this fall totaling nearly $85,000. The grants will fund programs and projects at all three EGRPS elementary schools, the middle school, and the high school.
Including grants, program support, professional development, teacher awards and student scholarships, the EGR Schools Foundation plans to provide approximately $800,000 to East Grand Rapids Public Schools this school year. That includes $400,000 as part of a multi-year, multimillion-dollar commitment to the new high school.
The thirty grants approved this fall include new and refurbished devices for use in chemistry classes at the high school, funding for a team-building camp experience for sixth graders, and a “Salmon in the Classroom” project that Breton Downs fifth grade teacher Chiara Hemsley is working with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources to bring to her students.
Other elementary school grants approved this fall will help fund:
- School musicals
- Bright Star Theatre professional performances
- Storage cabinets for indoor recess equipment
- An “Immerse” Grand Rapids Public Museum experience
- Bucket Drumming elementary music project
At the middle school, other approved grants will help fund:
- Robotics
- Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports Conference attendance
- Sensory inclusion art materials
- Choir accompanists
- Water quality measurement devices for science classes
At the high school, other grants will help fund:
- Band trip to Orlando
- Digital cameras for photography classes
- Drama club trip to Stratford Shakespeare Festival
- 3D printers
- Air quality sensors for science classes
- An iPad for interactive math lessons
- Hands-on modeling tools for biology classes
- Glazes for ceramics classes
- Document-based questions for history classes
- “Debating the Documents” curriculum for history classes
- Communications tech for the Performing Arts Center
- Science Olympiad
- A keyboard and amp for the Jazz Band
- Cameras for yearbook
More grants will benefit students at all grade levels, including funding for teachers and school psychologists to attend conferences.
The EGR Schools Foundation will consider a second round of grant applications at its March 2027 board meeting.
You can be part of what the Foundation does for our schools by donating.
