The Troy City Schools Education Foundation has awarded grants for this academic year.

Grants were awarded to Deb Davis, Heather Bunn and Forrest Lee, Troy Elementary School; Jenny Meadows and Debbie Tarbox at Charles Henderson Middle School; and Judith Park and the mascot at Charles Henderson High School.

Dr. Candice Howard-Shaughnessy, foundation board member, said the Troy City Schools Education Foundation’s mission is to provide educational opportunities for students above and beyond the classroom. The awards granted for this academic year will help fulfill that mission.

The award presented to Deb Davis is titled “The Big Third Grade Musical.

“With this grant funding the third-grade students will produce and perform a musical at Troy University,” Howard-Shaughnessy said. “The grant award to Heather Bunn is titled ‘The Southeastern Raptor Center’ and the center will bring birds and visit all first grade students and allow a hands-on experience with the birds.”

The grant award to Forrest Lee is titled “Trojan Boating and Fishing Expo.”

“One hundred and fifty sixth-grade students participated in fishing and boating skills, rules and regulations of boating laws in Alabama and exposure to a professional bass angle and also cooking demonstrations,” Howard-Shaughnessy said.

The grant award to Jenny Meadows is titled “Life with the Fitzgeralds” and will provide funding for 45 seventh- and eighth-grade students to attend a field trip to the Zelda Museum and the Montgomery Museum of Fine Art.

Howard-Shaughnessy said the students would analyze Zelda’s paintings and make connections that will be synthesized into a performance.

Debbie Tarbox’s grant awards will fund grants titled “Exploring Non-Fiction through the Eyes of our Heroes,” which will fund a fieldtrip for eighth-grade students to the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, and “Bonding with the Bard: Learning about Shakespeare through live performace. This grant award will provide for 49 seventh- and eighth-grade students to attend the performance of “Twelfth Night” at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival.

“The grant award to Judith Park at CHHS was for a grant titled “Help send CHHS Theater Students to Competition,’” Howard Shaughnessy said. “This grant will provide funds for 35 students in grades nine through 12 to attend the Walter Trumbauer Theater Festival. A grant was also awarded in the amount of a $1,000 donation to help assist with funding to purchase the new CHHS mascot.”

In awarding these grants, the Troy City Schools Education Foundation is continuing to provide above and beyond the classroom opportunities for its students.

“Since 1992, the TCS Education Foundation has quietly granted more than $400,000 to Troy City School educators for dozens of projects and programs to enhance the educational experiences of our students,” Howard Shaughnessy said. “These projects include specialized curriculum needs – writing and reading initiatives, hands on learning tools and a 3-D printer, field trips to Space Camp in Huntsville, the Battleship in Mobile and art museums in Atlanta, exposing our children to a variety of experiences including the Auburn University Raptor Center, the Montgomery Zoo and the Georgia Aquarium. The TCS Education Foundation has also funded competitive trips for our bands, forensic teams, choral groups and drama clubs, creation and support or our archery program and Chrome Books for the middle school newspaper and computer lab.”

Howard-Shaughnessy said last year the board awarded more than $18,000 in grants to teachers and, so far this academic year, the board has awarded more than $8,500 to teachers.