Joe Roberts, left, is surprised by Liberty ISD Education Foundation Directors Margaret Gardzina and Sandra Garcia.Liberty High School Principal Dr. Joe Roberts, left, is surprised by Liberty ISD Education Foundation Directors Margaret Gardzina and Sandra Garcia.Liberty High School Principal Dr. Wil Joiner, center, is joined by Ronnell Wainscott, social studies chairman; Sandra Garcia, Superintendent Dr. Wil Joiner, center, is joined by Ronnell Wainscott, social studies chairman; Sandra Garcia, Superintendent Dr.
It must have seemed like a late, but welcome Christmas gift for four Liberty ISD educators on Tuesday as they received much-needed grant funds to assist them in their classrooms.
Liberty ISD Education Foundation officials were on hand Tuesday to surprise the teachers with their checks, flowers and well wishes from Superintendent Cody Abshier.
ESL teacher Joe Roberts, who collected the largest grant at $5,226, was clearly surprised by the prize patrol gathered in his classroom.
Chad Barrett has given the thumbs up for the new class.
“I’ve already been reading up and watching a lot of YouTube videos and gaining more ideas in preparation for the class,” the teacher said.
Roberts will use the money to purchase three cameras, green screen, boom mikes, audio system to do independent audio from the video, filmmaking equipment like dollies, jib crane and camera, and some editing software.
This grant creates an opportunity to challenge high school students initially to compete in UIL Short Filmmaking Competition, eventually adding a monthly film version of the school’s popular FireWire online newspaper along with other products.
The high school recently released a video promoting the values and commitment of staff teaching students at Liberty High School.
“You can never have thought how much digital media means until this weekend when you guys put out an LHS video which was powerful,” Wright said to Roberts. Her Pedaling for Power grant totaled just over $2,000.
One other grant found funding through the regular district budget funds, but the grant submission process was helpful in putting the applicant and the funding together.
The board games, he said, would help them with focus on problem-solving and mathematical reasoning.
“You also have guys in town with businesses and former alumni who contribute to help your teachers be successful,” Wright told students of Wil Joiner’s class.
Since its inception in 2007, the Foundation has awarded 61 grants totaling $183,443 for various projects for teachers and students at Liberty ISD campuses.
“The main purpose in what we do is when the district can’t fund a particular project, teachers can apply for a grant and through that grant, we have a process that we choose the winners,” said Bruce Wright, foundation coordinator.
“Those grants are funded by the foundation by donors, businesses, corporations and service organizations through our fundraisers, the Denim and Diamonds gala in October and the Liberty Freedom Bike Ride in April,” he said.
