by Austin Oakes, Staff Reporter

Schools around the district are receiving grants totalling $38,000 which will fund different programs and technology. Programs include literacy intervention at Meadowbrook, technology updates at the junior highs, music recording and production equipment, and an environmentally friendly gatehouse at the high school.

The grants will be given throughout the district by the Hopkins Education Foundation (HEF), a non-profit foundation that works to give grants across the school district. Present today to give the grants were Michael Glover, grants chair, Jennifer St. Clair, executive director of staff, and Michele Pasko, staff member. Checks for HHS were given to Mark Czech, music department, and Tessa Ruff and Sophia Showalter, seniors and leaders of earth club.

“This grant, the mobile music recording and production lab grant, will make high quality recordings possible,” said Czech.

The grant is on a different level for Czech.

“It’s also personal for me. This grant honors Jerry Christianson,” said Czech.

Jerry Christiansen, a musical friend of Czech, was involved with Hopkins for many years. After a muscular disease caused Christiansen to stay at home, he found an interest in home recording. After his death, his wife decided to help raise funds for Hopkins’ music tech program. Everything from instruments to his album, Christiansen posthumously raised thousands of dollars for Hopkins.

Czech put in an application for a grant through HEF to match the funds raised by Christiansen. He is grateful and happy that the district is honoring his friend for all of the work put in to create a better learning environment.

The other grant awarded to HHS is the ‘Green’ gatehouse structural plan. The funds from this grant will be used to to transform the shed located at the entrance to Lindbergh Center into a ‘green’ gatehouse. The shed, which currently uses the school colors and is the pay station of daily parking, is seen by hundreds of students and parents everyday.

“I’m very excited. It’ll give HHS a chance to show it’s green side,” said Ruff.

Earth club is hoping to create a demo-like structure. The structure will try to incorporate multiple aspects of environmentally friendly construction practices including solar panels and recycled construction material.

At the junior highs, Johannah Olson and Timothy Nefzger, both science, are using their grant to update their technology. The grant will be used to update LabQuest2 handheld devices. These devices are used in the lab to collect and graph data, and share on student’s iPads.

“The devices will be utilized in a majority of the labs throughout the entire [physical science] course. Students… will have use of LabQuest2 and its exciting new capabilities,” a description of the grant said.

The final grant will be used at Meadowbrook Elementary to create a literacy intervention pilot program.

This program helps third to fifth graders who are struggling with reading by using specialized books to try and get students excited about reading. Readings include main characters in every race and gender and themes from magical kingdoms to stories about the the scientific field. If successful, this program may be used throughout the district to help struggling readers in multiple grade levels.

“These grants will be used for so many great things, and I’m so excited for all of Hopkins,” said Ruff.