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Grants Previously Awarded

 
• 2008/2009
• 2007
• 2006
• 2005
• 2004
• 2003
• 2002

2008/2009 Awards

Rosalind Gaines Harrell, Arbor Hill Elementary School Principal, and Park Playhouse, Inc. collaborated on the "Edutainment: Kidz Extended Day Program." This afterschool program gives school-age children a chance to participate in a theatrical production where they practice the skills of teamwork, cooperation and persistence. Under the grant, Arbor Hill Elementary School students get a chance to learn both onstage and backstage skills - an opportunity not available during a normal school day -- from Park Playhouse's veteran actors. The project culminates with a performance of Disney's "Aladdin Jr." musical in May. Also collaborating on the project is Shirley Arensberg of Park Playhouse, a retired district teacher.

Dwight Williams of the University at Albany School of Public Health, Bruce Cole of the New York State Department of Health, and the Albany YMCA partnered to enhance the Y's ongoing Saturday Night Teen Program. Teen Night gives kids a safe place to socialize and have fun; under this grant, the Journey Program provides mentors - adults from the community, college students and former Teen Night participants - as role models who help the teens deal with difficult life situations and avoid gang involvement. A component of the program also provides education on gang violence and broad health issues including pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases and HIV. Also collaborating on the project are John Reith of the School of Public Health, and Ron Cook and Bob Sample of the YMCA.

John Harris of Albany High School and the Black Child Development Institute partnered for "Enter the College Zone," a program that provides mentoring and college preparation advice to middle-school students and advice and assistance to their parents on a college campus. Also collaborating were Kenneth Newman, Principal at William S. Hackett Middle School, and Kimberly Wilkins, Principal at Stephen and Harriet Myers Middle School.

District Music Supervisor Gloria Savino, Music Teacher Bryan Cady and the Albany Marching Falcons Music Program partnered to raise funds for the marching band's upcoming trip to the national Memorial Day Parade in Washington, DC. About 60 students in grades 4-12 from throughout the district comprise the band and its accompanying color guard. Grant dollars will also help finance instrument repair.

Terry Hettesheimer of Albany School of Humanities (ASH) and the New York State Theater Institute partnered on a literacy project at ASH for students in grades 2-4. Besides its goal of improving reading skills, the project focused on life lessons to be learned from Pippi Longstocking, the fictional and unconventional kid superhero. Students read Pippi Longstocking books purchased through the grant. And the project culminated in a Theater Institute performance of the play "Letters from a Window in the Sky," a story about an insecure young woman who finds her inner Pippi in a series of world travels. Also collaborating on the project were ASH's Patricia Snyder and Christine Saplan and Principal Rosalyn Wallace.

Bridgette Mattison of ASH and the Jewish Coalition for Literacy Volunteers partnered in "Vamanos/Let's Go!." This project enabled ASH students in grades 4-6 to "visit" Spanish-speaking countries and take others with them. How? With help from a new set of research materials, games, the Internet and their own powers of persuasion. The journeys began with a travel agent discussing vacationing in Spanish-speaking countries. Aided by the Literacy Volunteers, students researched the country of their choice. Then they used facts, their imaginations and their opinions to create a "commercial" - a PowerPoint presentation -- to entice people to visit their country. Also collaborating on the project were Principal Rosalyn Wallace, Geri Pressley, Barbara Chelsey and Diane Micelli, all of ASH, and Shelly Shapiro of the Jewish Coalition for Literacy Volunteers.

Nancy Allen of ASH, the Jewish Coalition of Literacy Volunteers and the Discovery Box Literacy Program partnered in a memory book project for 130 fifth- and sixth-graders at ASH. From a blank book, each student has created an autobiographical memento of their year in Spanish. Each book also serves as an individual comprehensive review of the elementary Spanish curriculum at ASH. The students will share their work with their families, younger students, and the Literacy Volunteers, and the books will be displayed at the school's learning fair. Also collaborating on the project was the Touhey Foundation.

Defny Gamboa and Angela Mykolaitis of Pine Hills Elementary School and the Zeta Phi Beta Sorority collaborated on "Stepping in Pine Hills," which introduced kids to step dancing during Black History Month by taking them to the Fifth Annual Step Show at the Palace Theater. Performers included the Albany High Step Team and the Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Step Team. After the concert, two members of the Zeta Phi Beta Sorority StepTeam came to Pine Hills Elementary and taught students the history of step dance and several dance moves. Also collaborating on the project were Maureen Goldman and Principal Vibetta Sanders of Pine Hills Elementary School.

Andy Hasty of Giffen Memorial Elementary School and the Albany Pine Bush Preserve Commission partnered on a "Winter Ecology in the Pine Bush" program. At the Pine Bush Preserve, students learned how animals adapt for winter survival, identified animal activity and explored winter in the Pine Bush habitat - and did all this on snowshoes! Pine Bush Preserve staff in turn visited Giffen and provided classroom presentations on wildlife and winter survival. Also collaborating were J. Dudley and Principal Mark Prince from Giffen, and Blake Etchison, Erin Kinal, Laura Bried and Jackie Citriniti of the Albany Pine Bush Preserve Commission.

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2007 Awards

Albany High School Athletics "College Visiting" Program - $1,500 (matching funds with the Albany Booster Club creating a $3,000 fund for college visits for student-athletes in need. (Bernie)

Roni Ben-Hur Music Program $150 with WAMC - Jazz music workshops for Albany High School music students (Bob Pastel)

Whitney M. Young Jr. Clinic Mobile Dental Van - $2,000 (Carolyn and Onolee)

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2006 Awards

School 20/ Park playhouse partnership - $3,000

Giffen Photo/writing Project -$3,000 (Sparkplug: J. Harris)

School 19 Lego Robotics Club - $1,000; Sparkplugs Trent Gemmill and Jennifer Pickett

AHS Fashion/Sewing Club - $750

Toast Dance Program - $2,000 (Sparkplug Mr. Ken Skinner)

Toast "Character-building" program - $850 (Sparkplug Donna Wickert)

And "in but not by" the school - Parent Advocacy Program $3,000 (B. Smith Group)

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2005 AWARDS

Create a Stage, ASH
Principal, Rosalyn Wallace; Sparkplug, Carol Carman.
A performing arts stage will be built in the multi-function room at ASH. Several community organizations are contributing time, materials and funds for this project. ($3,000)

Mentoring for Literacy, School 20
Principal, Greg Jones; Sparkplug, Donna Coonley.
This grant will be used to provide two field trips and to purchase learning materials for students and their mentors from nearby businesses.

Robotics Club, Albany High School
Principal, Mike Cioffi; Sparkplug, Varada Vaughan.
Students from Albany High, mentored by students from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) will compete in the Foundation for the Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology's (FIRST) competition in Connecticut.

Field Trip, School 19
Principal, Gary Beadnell; Sparkplug, Barbara Warford.
Fourth grade students at School 19 will tour Albany on an Albany Aqua Duck. They will prepare illustrated written reports of this trip and what it taught them about Albany's history.

Choir Expansion, Giffen Memorial Elementary School
Principal, Maxine Fantroy-Ford; Sparkplug, John Harris.
The choir started last year will be expanded and will perform at more community events. A portion of the funds will pay for music lessons for participating students.

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2004 AWARDS

School 16/Albany High School Aesop�s Slightly Updated Fables -
Principals, Kim Wilkins/ Mike Cioffi; Sparkplugs, Charles Coleman and Shirley Arensberg.
Albany High School students directed School 16 children in a play that was performed at the NYS Museum for an audience of 4th, 5th and 6th graders from 11 Albany public elementary schools.

Hackett Middle School Latino and Afro-Caribbean Concert -
Principal James Gaudette; Sparkplug, Marisa Gitto.
Alex Torres and Los Reyes Latinas performed a foreign language and musical and cultural heritage concert at the middle school for the entire student body and faculty.

Giffen School Parent/Student/Teacher Community Choir -
Principal, Maxine Fantroy-Ford; Sparkplug, John Harris.
Grant provided choir robes for parent/student/teacher choir that performs at the school and in the community.

School 16- Where in the World is Flat Stanley -
Principal, Kim Wilkins; Sparkplug, Ellen Reohr.
Students registered their Flat Stanley on the Internet, mailed him to other schools that are registered and received mailed copies from yet other schools. Journals were kept and maps updated with information about places that Flat Stanley had visited.

Giffen School- Book Project
Principal, Maxine Fantroy-Ford.
In conjunction with the Albany Rotary Foundation, a grant was made to purchase books for the Giffen School Library.

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2003 AWARDS

ASH (Albany School of Humanities)- Fantastic Fairy Tale Project
Principal - Mrs. Wallace; Sparkplug- Valerie Vacchio.
Twenty-three children produced and performed in original plays based on Fairy Tales from Europe. They wrote the plays, designed and created costumes and scenery and sample European food. Community partners included local theatre groups and a neighborhood restaurant. The project enhanced students' creativity, literacy and writing skills as well as expanded the students' understanding and appreciation of European culture.

School 16- Peace Talk -
Principal- Mrs. Wilkins; Sparkplugs- Mrs.Goldman, Mrs. Bruce.
Kindergarten and fourth grade "Buddy Readers" read and role-played peaceful conflict resolution with teachers and community volunteers. The school supplemented its current library to acquire all of the books on the Mohawk Library Association's list of 100 Picture Books for Peace. Community partners include the College of St. Rose and the Arts Center of the Capital Region. The readers met regularly to read the books on the list and followed up by role-playing using situations that demonstrate the principles of peaceful conflict resolution.

School 16- Our Community -
Principal- Mrs. Wilkins; Sparkplug- Mrs. Bruce.
All of the Kindergarten classes participated in this project, which included on-site visits from local police officers, fire fighters and sanitation workers with their equipment and off-site visits to the local library, hospital, post office and merchants in the neighborhood. Students created a community in the school including a functional kindergarten post office. Partners are the businesses in the community.

MsAP (Middle School Alternative Program)-Time Dollar Project -
Principal- Mr. Hotaling; Sparkplug- Mary Matthews.
Twenty-four seventh and eighth graders provided community members with services and were rewarded for their "service time" with "time dollars" that can be used to purchase needed and desired items. The community partner is Family and Children Services of the Capital Region, the State University of NY School of Social Welfare, the City of Albany Department of Youth and Family Services and the United Way of Northeastern New York. The project gave the students an opportunity to make a positive contribution to the community and gave the business and community leaders who participate a positive view of these students.

School #20- Jr. City Beautification Project,
Principal- Sal Villa; Sparkplug- Rosemary Wolfgang (deferred from 2002).
15-20 students and their teacher worked with Judy Stacey, the Albany City Gardener to assist in beautification projects in the School #20 neighboring area and other city garden locations. Student outcomes included learning gardening techniques and taking pride in their community. Community partners included the City of Albany and local business.

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2002 Awards

Innovation money went directly to the district for support of specific programs that were selected by a different process - $6,000 Albany School of Humanities

The Ananse Project - African Music and Story telling - $475

Future Educators of America - $300

Albany High School Essential Schools Project - $850

School 18 Garden - $1,000

School 20 Garden - $1,000

Montessori Student Council - $750

$5,000 went to support start up costs for the Career Academy

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• Grants in Progress
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