If you are a Mason City Schools educator, visit www.masonschoolsfoundation.org for the MSF Grant Application.

2015-2016 Mason Schools Foundation Grants

• “Sculpture to Screen - ($8,578 - Aaron Roberts - MHS)

This will fund a 3D printer for the High School art department, allowing art to come off the screen and go beyond the two-dimensional boundaries of glossy paper, making digital art into sculpture.

• “A Midsummer’s Night’s  Dream”  - ($1,400 - Katie Lin - MMS)

This grant will bring the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company to MMS to perform “A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream” for all Mason 8^th Graders.  

• “Western Row Media Center Selfie Station” - ($600 - Sil Bobinski - WR)

This grant will provide technology for students to use video and/or photos to present book reviews and recommendations for their fellow students.

• "Get Glogging" - (Amie Kanzeg - MI)

This project will give students a Glogsteredu account. Glogster is a tool where students can create multimedia informational flyers and "mini-websites."

• “Making Culture Come Alive through Listening” - ($525 - Erica Minner - MHS)

These funds will provide access to a website called Bablingua for the entire Spanish Department, 7^th-12^th grades.    The website provides videos, audios activities and games that are accessible by students and teachers in and out of the classroom.

• School Supplies - (School Wide Initiative)

• “Mason Middle School and Mason Intermediate Mentoring Program Grant" - ($2,354 - Shannon Norman- MMS and MI)

This is a program where staff  and community volunteers mentor at-risk students at the Middle School and Intermediate. These are often children from homes of poverty, drug use and violence, and/or  where the child often comes home to an empty house with little adult guidance. This funding provides a bonding experience with their mentors in a safe, contained environment at WEB Extreme Entertainment.  

• "MMS House System Start-Up" - (Jay Reuter - MMS)

The House System supports the MSF purpose by helping to create a school culture and environment at MMS that promotes personal and academic excellence for every student in seventh and eight grade. This grant will help to fund the implementation year of the house system, allowing for the house system to become self-sufficient and financially sustainable in future years.

• “Parent Connections" - ($500 - Jan Willig - WR)

This will update written resources for parents relating to the unique issues surrounding gifted and high-ability learners.

• "Brainology" (Jill Gasson and Litty Mathai - MI)

This project will provide the teachers and students of Team Character with the Brainology curriculum, which is based on years of research by Stanford University's Carol Dweck. Brainology raises students' achievement by helping them develop a growth mindset.

• “Closing the Achievement Gap” - ($255 - Krishanna Paguirigan - MHS)

These funds will provide age-and level-appropriate current event periodicals.

• "Google Read & Write" - (Laura Palmer, Kurt Dinan, Olivia Kinross, Jessica Krohn, Charlise Carr, and Martha Murphy - MHS)

This grant will continue to elevate high-tech Chromebook classrooms. Read and Write for Google has the following features available to students in the premium version: Text-to-speech, translator, word prediction, talking dictionary, picture dictionary, fact finder, and more.

• "The Sky is Not the Limit" - (Adam Bally - MI)

This grant will fund Personal Solar Telescopes (PSTs) with accessories into his classroom. The technology will be aligned with the MI curriculum by presenting an opportunity for students to get a hands-on educational experience by learning about our Sun and its role in the solar system.

• "STEM Learning Center" - ($25,000 - Melissa Bly, Eric Messer, Jonathan Cooper, Shanna Bumiller, and Robyn Thomas - MECC, WR)

These funds will bring to life the shared vision of some of our Districts’ leaders, turning our 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd grade science labs into 21^st Century STEM Labs.  The District will provide funding for professional development and infrastructure such as furniture, and the Foundation will provide funding for the technology for these transformations for our littlest STEM learners.

• "Year 2 - MMS Coding and Robotics STEM Lab - (Martin Fish - MMS)

This grant will fund additional equipment needed to supply the new MMS Coding and Robotics Stem Lab. Beginning in the 2015-2016 school year, the Coding and Robotics STEM lab will be offered as an elective opportunity to 7th and 8th grade students at MMS.

2015 Above and Beyond Teacher Grants

• Elementary: Kelly Gholz - WR 3rd Grade Teacher
• Secondary: Amy Ortega - MHS Spanish Teacher