Educator Grant Recipients
2026-2027 Recipients

Jessica Buell
Mt. Comfort Elementary School
Purchased: NeuroKids Focus System and Mega Learning Bundle to strengthen students’ focus, memory, emotional regulation, and task completion
"I love watching students go from hesitant learners to confident readers, writers, and problem solvers. Their excitement, curiosity, and honesty make every day meaningful, and their small victories feel like big accomplishments."

Darci Cockrum
Southport Elementary School
Purchased: Bilingual and wordless picture books for English Learner students and their families to support reading at home
"The thing I love most about teaching is fostering a love of reading in my students. I love being able to see a student grow in their ability and confidence when it comes to reading. You see their whole attitude change for the better. Reading allows you to experience other ideas, cultures, and places, giving one a new perspective on life. Reading is free. It can be done anywhere and at any time. You can travel the world (or the universe) without ever leaving your home."

Anna-Katherine Davis
Pleasant Grove Elementary School
Purchased: QuaverReady, an evidence-based social-emotional learning curriculum for K–5 classroom guidance and small-group counseling
"I love school counseling/social work because I have the opportunity to walk alongside students during some of their most important years of growth and development. Every day, I get to build meaningful relationships with students, help them understand themselves better, and teach them skills they can carry with them throughout their lives. I love that my role allows me to support the whole child and make a lasting impact on students' lives."

Joshua Ellis
Avon Middle School West
Purchased: Tuners, pickup microphones, rechargeable batteries, chargers, and a storage caddy for the middle school band program
"Teaching band to students in grades 6-8 is one of the most rewarding and enjoyable jobs I can imagine. There is something truly special about meeting a group of students at the beginning of their musical journey and hearing those very first sounds come out of their instruments. Those first notes may not always be beautiful, in tune, or even intentional,but they represent possibility. From that moment forward, I get to watch something incredible happen. Students who may begin unsure of themselves slowly learn how to produce a characteristic sound, play their first songs, perform with others, and eventually accomplish things they never believed they could do."

Trenee Lambert
Eastridge Elementary School
Purchased: Assemble take-home baggie-book sets with fiction, nonfiction, STEM, and Spanish titles for four third-grade classrooms
"One of my favorite lessons to teach is "Making Connections." During this lesson I help students understand how our brain makes connections while we are reading. Whether it's making a connection with a different book that we have already read, or making a connection with something that has happened in the real world, or even making a connection with ourselves. While this is a lesson that may take a week and for some a lot longer, there is a joy that comes to you as a teacher when you witness students using the strategy that you have taught them on their own."

Stephanie Lancaster
Winchester Village Elementary School
Purchased: Bright, accessible watercolor paints for elementary students to practice color mixing and create expressive artwork
"My goal is to make a positive impact on each of my students in some way, shape or form. Students know that when they enter my room they are accepted and welcomed. They know that they are going to use their hands to create and express their feelings. They know they will make mistakes and that is good. Mistakes are a big part of learning and students know that I expect and celebrate mistakes, because they give us an opportunity to grow. Teaching art gives me the opportunity to help students express and work through their feelings in a healthy way. It is my hope that all my students feel seen, heard, and valued when they are with me."

Sarah Mason
Decatur Central High School
Purchased: Class sets of true-crime and classroom-library books along with paper, tissues, and device-charging supplies for English classes
"What I love most is watching literature do what no lecture can: make a teenager sit with hard questions about justice, truth, and human nature and want to talk about it at lunch. I love handing a reluctant reader a book and watching them become the kid who finishes the whole series. I love the AP student who learns to argue with precision and the sophomore who discovers, maybe for the first time, that reading can feel like curiosity instead of a chore."

Chris Modglin
Stout Field Elementary School
Purchased: Class set of roller racers and a nine-hole disc golf set for regular and adaptive physical education classes
"I love being a teacher because I love my students! As a special area teacher, I get the amazing opportunity of watching my students grow up from kindergarten to sixth grade. What a transformation they make! The overarching goal of my Physical Education program is to learn to be fit for a lifetime by providing quality experiences for my students to learn in an authentic way."

Ronni Moore
Lawrence North High School
Purchased: Equip the Public Health Reporting Lab with a workstation, monitor, storage drive, camera, and audio-video editing equipment
"I love teaching because I get to help young people discover that school does not have to be separate from their lives. Their questions can be the curriculum. Their community can be the laboratory. Their learning can have consequences beyond a grade. And maybe most importantly, they can discover that they are not too young to matter."

Laura Ndabari
Hamilton Southeastern Schools
Purchased: Create a districtwide library of tactile, interactive, age-appropriate books that support literacy instruction for students with significant disabilities
"The magic of watching students go from non-readers to readers is one of the most exciting aspects of the job. And this is amplified when those students are those with more significant disabilities and non-traditional speakers with communication devices. It takes a different type of instruction and adapted materials to support students with complex bodies."

Nicole Osborne
Ruth Callon Center
Purchased: Equip a game room with multiplayer board, air hockey, and basketball games that reinforce positive behavior and emotional and social regulation
"I look forward to school every morning, because of the hope I have that at least one child will exhibit positive emotional regulation or social skills. When I see a student use a skill, maybe breathing or counting, to express their anger or sadness instead of hitting a teacher or peer, joy washes over me. That's what really keeps me going. My job teaching behaviorally challenged students is extremely stressful, but seeing the growth students make over time is incredibly fulfilling."

Michelle Reel
Westlane Middle School
Purchased: Stock a classroom mini-economy store with school supplies, sensory items, prizes, and snacks that reward participation and teach financial literacy
"What I love most about teaching is watching students discover that math isn't just abstract numbers on a page, it's a living, breathing tool they'll use every day. Building mathematical fluency through real-life experiences has become the cornerstone of my teaching philosophy, and nothing embodies this better than the classroom mini-economy I run. My classroom mini-economy transforms our learning space into a microcosm of the real world. Students earn classroom currency through positive behaviors, completed assignments, and participation. They can then spend their earnings on privileges, classroom supplies, or items from our class store."

Leshia Stewart
Geist Montessori Academy
Purchased: Purchase four to five iPads per classroom, protective cases, and accessories so students can use the Math Shelf learning program
"What I love most about teaching is watching children discover their own abilities and develop confidence as independent learners. I especially love seeing the moment when a child makes a connection, solves a problem independently, or realizes, "I can do this!" I value the relationships I build with my students and recognize that every child is unique, with individual interests, strengths, and ways of learning."

Bailey Voth
Broad Ripple Middle School
Purchased: Display shelving, clay, glazes, signage, and mounting and finishing materials for a student art and community display project
"Being an educator is the most defining (and best) title I carry. What I love most about teaching is being a safe space for my students. Middle school can be such a complicated and transformative time, a time when students are trying to figure out who they are, where they belong, and who they want to become. I feel incredibly lucky to be someone who gets to walk alongside my students during that journey. If my students leave my classroom knowing that they are capable, creative, worthy, and that they always have a place where they belong and can shine, then I know I have done something meaningful."
Previous Education Grant Winners
2025-2026 Recipients
Leah Averitt | Sarah Dobbins |
Chelsea English | Peter Felice |
Nancy Ferguson | Allan Figy |
Nicole Heflin | Amanda Hoffman |
Elisha Pepperman | Sierra Reed |
Thomas Rohlfs & Taylor Elamon | Jaleen Royer |
Kevin Self | Matthew Wernke |
2024-2025 Recipients
Lade Akande | Ruth Bowen |
LaMonica Henson | Jennifer Leavell |
Kevin Morse | Brent Oliver |
Sherry Pryor | Lauren Royalty |
Vivian Szymkow | Sarah Tappendorf |
Lauryn Tooley | Melissa Warner |
Beverly White | |
2023-2024 Recipients
Melinda Anderson | Cassie Brooks |
Courtney Chamberlin | Molly Coffman |
Amanda Cornet | Lauren Graham |
Karen Gropp | Lori Hippensteel |
Ashley Jones | Jared Mackey |
Kathryn McKinney | Andrea Nobbe |
Alisha Owens | Tabatha Ramsey |
Beth VanSlyke |
2022-2023 Recipients
Meagan Brown | Jennifer Conley |
Amy Hartung | John Hochstetler |
Majenica McLeland | Margaret Boling Mullin, PhD, NBCT |
Shayna Nelson | BJ O'Connor |
April Pickett | Zachary Rohrbach |
Mark Sanders | Jessica Schwab |
Madeline Seghers | Brandi Taziyah |
2021-2022 Recipients
Michelle Brinkman | Emily Chestnut |
Somer Compton | Clara Crosby |
Nancy Dain-Cooper | Bernade Flournoy |
Jennifer Frye | Allison Martin |
Beth Oburn | Elizabeth Sei |
John Stevenson | Lauren Tauer |
Lishawna Taylor | Annie Wing |
2020-2021 Recipients
Sarah Ackerman | Kelly Barnes |
Jennifer Brackney | Dr. Deborah Daniels Calhoun |
William Doublestein | Derek Fischer |
Shantel Garrett | Kathryn Graham |
Joseph Hoffman | Anna Jones |
Amy McCleery | Lindsey Porter |
Kristina Sanders | Joseph Shimp |
Robyn Stout | Kimberli Williams |
2019-2020 Recipients
Lindsey Bradshaw | Laura Gunderson |
Brett Hawkins | Amanda Kammer |
Norman Leonard | Amy Mohl |
Bruce Nelson | Daniel Ng |
Sheryl Niccum | Melanie Nobbe |
Katie Norton | Elaine Oldham |
Kay Schrage | Jessica Smith |
Erin Stevens | Lisa Thresh |
Miranda Vaiagae |
2018-2019 Recipients
Erin Amones | Melissa Bardack |
Stephanie Basile | Edward Berry |
David Culley | Veronica Curtis |
Deborah Huffine | Jennifer Leavell |
Nicole Little | Megan Mathew |
Ann Mennonno | Angel Myers |
Angela Roamer | Danielle Thompson |
Robert Walls | Nicole Walters |
Kerri Wood |
2017-2018 Recipients
Chris Atkinson | Andrew Brinkman |
Matthew Goddard | Sarah Cannon |
Courtney Chamberlin | Kristen Fern |
Miranda Fikes | Kurt Freytag |
Todd Hagemeier | Greg McCord |
Kevin Morse | Amber Ploutz |
Jennifer Spoor | Amanda Stinnett |
Leah Trigg | Dawn Walker-Seyerle |
Lane Waters |
2016-2017 Recipients
Erin Amones | Jamie Beck |
Catherine Brinkerhoff | Douglas Brown |
Cathleen Clady | Kathy Drake |
Melody Gayle | Tracie Greene |
Karen Hovanec | Kylie Keevy |
Jennifer Marlow | Theresa Mendez |
Terry Mitchell | Nicole Monkul |
Ryan Morphew | David Nelson |
Carla Redden | Helen Shere |
Gwen Wieczorek |
2015-2016 Recipients
Vicki Ayres-Benson | Kelsey Buckley |
Bill Buckman | Josh Cecil |
Ashley Connor | Marinda Grove |
Maureen Hoffman-Wehmeier | Colleen Ireland |
Adam Jahn | Kim King |
Jeremy Large | Christine Miller |
Barbra Nichols | Alexandra Tubbs |
Kim Ward |
2014-2015 Recipients
Jessica Belton | Clara Crosby |
Valerie Ferry | Kristin Hancock |
Craig Helming | Amanda Holland |
Kendra Kidwell | Laura LaCross |
Kelly Looper | Terri Perkins |
Regina Rexrode | Christina Riley |
Josh Torres | Danielle Traphagan |
Brenda Walde |