The Foundation for Educational Excellence awarded 19 Innovative Teacher Grants and

7 School Resource Grants this week to teachers across Beaufort County from 18 different schools. These grants totaling almost $30,000 were given to teachers whose educational activities and projects surpass regular school lessons. Watch the video announcing the winners below, or see the list at the end of the blog.

According to Michel Claudio, Innovative Grants Chair and Foundation Board Member, “These grants represented all age levels from early childhood to high school across the district and will provide individual learning opportunities for over 5,600 Beaufort County students this year with some projects providing a longer term investment of educational experiences for years to come.”

This year’s innovative learning projects range from robotics to ukuleles to special education, music, art, science and ESOL. Teachers applying this year were very creative - thinking “virtually and outside” the classroom - with projects being funded for grants such as “Taking the Learning Outdoors” at M.C. Riley Early Childhood Center and “Virtual Learning at Its Finest” at Lady’s Island Middle School. And at Hilton Head Island High School, a grant was awarded for a lab for “Light, Color and Fiber Optics” that can be utilized for many years to benefit students.