2025- 2026 Funded Grants
2025- 2026 Funded Grants
Jessica L Bennett; Krystal Stack; Lee Sykes, Oakridge Middle
The Lego BricQ Education box will allow students to get a better understanding of Forces and Motion. The students create models to have a better understanding of Newton’s Laws of Motion and other forces acting on objects. Creating the models will reinforce following directions step by step. Once the model is completed, the students will use the model to collect data that will be graphed and analyzed. Students will be able to create multiple models that can help see examples of different forces acting on objects. The 5 teachers at OMS used these kits last year and plan to use them again this year with the Forces and Motion unit as well as sharing with the new middle school next year. We are requesting these additional kits for all students to be able to complete the activity. We are also working on additional lessons to use with these kits. The particular kit is being discontinued, which makes this a limited-time opportunity to secure a valuable resource for our students.
The prosecution team is then able to investigate a fabricated crime scene to look for evidence. Using the point-of-view stories and evidence from the crime scene, they choose one of three suspects to be put on trial. Both the prosecution and defense teams then develop their cases, prosecuting and defending the character on trial, which could be the real culprit or might be innocent. Once their arguments are ready, they are brought together to practice their trial questions and answers. The final product is presented at the Clover School District Office, where twelve adults from the district and community serve as jurors to decide whether the Defendant will be convicted or acquitted after listening to the arguments put together by the prosecution and defense teams.
Kathryn Blair, Bethel Elementary
Literacy in Law: Combining Fairy Tales and the Judicial System to Teach Critical Thinking Skills to Elementary Students. The Mock Trial Club presents an opportunity for a hands-on, real-world learning experience for our fourth and fifth-grade students over the course of six months. Students are first taught about point of view by using fractured fairy tales and examining a story they know through the eyes of different characters in the story. Students are then taught vocabulary and the roles of various jobs in our legal system, including police, lawyers, judges, and many others who play a part in enforcing law and order in our country.
Scott Boyd, CCI
This grant request is a joint venture between Fire Science and Building Construction at Clover High School. The Fire Science Class is in need of a roof prop to teach fire students how to work on a pitched roof, and what it takes to cut a 4x4 hole to vertically ventilate a building. The prop has 4x4 holes already made into it, and pallets are used in the holes to simulate a solid roof that students cut.
patterns, and the built environment. This initiative supports sustainable, reusable learning by investing in durable materials that can be used across multiple classrooms and school years. The bricks will provide a tactile, visual, and inclusive approach to exploring complex geographic ideas, making them especially effective for diverse learners. Shared across the department, the kits will benefit hundreds of students annually through project-based experiences that promote creativity, collaboration, and critical thinking.
Nick Branyon, Matt Maurer, Sharon Nguyen, Yvonne Pierce, Tracey Player, and Rodney Tatum, Ninth Grade Campus
The Social Studies Department at Clover Ninth Grade Campus is seeking funding to purchase Brick kits and supplies to enhance Human Geography instruction by making abstract concepts—such as Population, Political Geography, and Urbanization—more tangible and engaging. Through hands-on modeling and collaborative design challenges, students will deepen their understanding of spatial relationships, demographic
Kelly Clark, Clover High
This grant supports teaching the next generation of digital storytellers through enhanced video production capabilities in high school social media and journalism classes. With recent changes in classroom technology policies, students needed updated equipment to create compelling, professional-quality video stories for social media platforms and journalism. The grant funds the purchase of professional camera equipment with integrated audio recording capabilities, enabling
students to create industry-standard videos more efficiently. This equipment upgrade ensures students gain hands-on experience with professional-grade tools while developing their content creation abilities through multimedia content that reflects current social media and journalism standards, but in a positive manner. The project will benefit multiple classes and provide students with valuable creative and technical skills for college and career preparation in the growing field of social media management, digital content creation, and journalism.
Madison Davis, Clover Middle
Students will get to experience hands-on history with this engaging activity. Indigo was a Cash Crop and a significant part of South Carolina’s economy in the 1700s, earning the nickname “The Blue Gold of South Carolina”. The impacts of its production were far-reaching and can still be seen in the agricultural makeup of our economy today. In this interdisciplinary project, students will learn the history of its agricultural production by dyeing cloth with real indigo in their social studies classroom and learning about the science behind indigo oxidation in their science labs..
Erin Few, Crowders Creek Elementary
This project will provide 4th graders at Crowders Creek with a hands-on history trunk filled with Revolutionary War artifacts, allowing students to explore the past in an interactive and engaging way. By examining replicas of uniforms, tools, and everyday items, students will develop historical empathy, critical thinking, and inquiry skills while connecting classroom learning to real-world experiences. The project aligns with South Carolina 4th-grade Social Studies standards by helping students analyze historical events, interpret primary sources, and understand daily life during the Revolutionary era. Initially benefiting all 178 4th graders at Crowders Creek, the project has the potential to expand district-wide, and outcomes will be shared through student work, reflections, and presentations to administrators and parents.
Jacquelyn George, Crowders Creek Elementary
The “What's the Buzz on Innovative Learning?” project seeks to revolutionize our elementary innovation lab by incorporating robots! This cutting-edge tool will serve over 1,100 students, providing them with the opportunity to engage in hands-on learning experiences that foster innovation, creativity, and technical skills. The introduction of the robots will not only enrich the STEM curriculum, but will also ensure sustainability in learning by allowing students to design, create, and review/revise their projects during the engineering design process. As a result, this will impact their understanding and application of engineering concepts.
Sam Harper, Bethany Elementary
This proposal seeks funding to purchase Backyard Bass, a casting-based educational game, for use in the Physical Education program at Bethany Elementary. This innovative activity enhances hand-eye coordination, motor skills, and student engagement while introducing the fundamentals of casting in a fun, inclusive environment. We aim to use this tool across grades PK – 5th to make physical education more accessible and engaging,
between the 2021-2022 school year and the 2022-2023 school year, attributing this increase to screen dependence. The Speech Cube subscription boxes provide themed products related to common life experiences, using products, toys, games, books, sensory items, and printable rather than screen-based learning. These items lend themselves to learning through interactive experience, encouraging generalization of skills taught to multiple contexts. Possible topics include travel, friendship, community helpers, science-related activities, and fairy tales.
Emily Hinkle, Oakridge Elementary
This grant seeks to provide students with themed speech/language therapy units to address a variety skills related speech sound disorders and developmental language delays. With the increased dependence on technology in daily living, there has been a shift from children having a play-based childhood to a screen-based childhood resulting in decreased incidental learning of basic communication skills. The US Department of Education cited a 10.3% increase in the number of students with speech/language impairments
Natalie Dawne Houck, Clover High
The Breakout Blitz project will provide a class set of 5 breakout boxes with all equipment needed to complete a breakout room activity with 5 teams. These kits can be housed at CHS and used by any class at that campus, but the kits can also be shared with other schools across the district, so students in all grade levels can potentially be impacted. Teachers can create creative breakout puzzles to address specific content needs, or many breakout puzzles are available online; therefore, students in all subject areas could benefit from the use of these kits.
Sarah Messina, Ninth Grade Campus
This project will provide 9th-grade students in the Clover High School Employability Diploma program with hands-on geometry manipulatives and building materials to connect math concepts to real-world applications. Students will design and construct scaled models such as city blueprints, apartment floor plans, and 3D structures, including water towers and monuments. These activities will make abstract math concrete, foster problem-solving, and build workplace readiness skills.
Todd Moser, Crowders Creek Elementary
I am seeking $910 to acquire advanced materials that will significantly enhance the capabilities of our existing elementary STEM lab. Our current lab, established two years ago, has been a successful foundation for project-based learning. However, as student skills and interests evolve, we require more sophisticated equipment to facilitate complex, multi-disciplinary projects in robotics, engineering, and science experiments. These targeted materials will enable our students to transition from foundational concepts to more advanced, creative applications, directly addressing the next level of our curriculum goals.
judges, and many others who play a part in enforcing law and order in our country. The prosecution team is then able to investigate a fabricated crime scene to look for evidence. Using the point-of-view stories and evidence from the crime scene, they choose one of three suspects to be put on trial. Both the prosecution and defense teams then develop their cases, prosecuting and defending the character on trial, which could be the real culprit or might be innocent. Once their arguments are ready, they are brought together to practice their trial questions and answers. The final product is presented at the Clover School District Office, where twelve adults from the district and community serve as jurors to decide whether the Defendant will be convicted or acquitted after listening to the arguments put together by the prosecution and defense teams.
Kathryn Blair, Bethel Elementary
Literacy in Law: Combining Fairy Tales and the Judicial System to Teach Critical Thinking Skills to Elementary Students. The Mock Trial Club presents an opportunity for a hands-on, real-world learning experience for our fourth and fifth-grade students over the course of six months. Students are first taught about point of view by using fractured fairy tales and examining a story they know through the eyes of different characters in the story. Students are then taught vocabulary and the roles of various jobs in our legal system, including police, lawyers,
Kelly Nellums and Kim Nordin, Larne Elementary
Our project engages 4th grade Gifted and Talented students in designing and building a 9-hole mini golf course that integrates key math and science concepts such as measurement, geometry, force, motion, and energy transfer. Students will apply critical thinking, creativity, and problem-solving skills to construct each hole, ensuring it is both challenging and fun. Once completed, the 4th graders will serve as leaders by guiding younger students through the course, sharing their learning, and fostering collaboration across grade levels. This hands-on project not only deepens STEM understanding but also builds leadership, communication, and mentorship skills, creating a meaningful and memorable experience for the entire school community.
Emme Marie Pasuit, Clover Middle
This project will engage 8th grade science students in hands-on learning through the design, construction, and launch of model rockets. Students will apply Newton’s First and Third Laws of Motion as they predict, test, and analyze how forces act on rockets. In addition, we will host “Rocket Launch Parties” where parents are invited to attend and celebrate learning with their children. To further reduce isolation and foster inclusion, students from our severe and profound classrooms will be invited to join the launches as honored guests, providing them with an opportunity to experience science in a joyful, accessible way.
Deanna Pauley, Clover Middle
One of our goals as a Leader in Me school this year is to add action teams to work on specific projects and goals from our yearly plan. These teams support academics, cultural awareness and leadership development. One of the needs expressed during our beginning of the year meetings was that of student leadership opportunities. Currently Leader In Me (LIM) philosophy and concepts are taught through homeroom lessons. Our principal also uses daily announcements to spotlight different LIM topics weekly. I feel that this opened up a significant opportunity for our students to take a leadership role in
this endeavor. We do not currently have a broadcasting club or class. If we could create an opportunity for students to present LIM goals and lessons, we belive that it will have more impact on our student body and students might be more receptive. Additionally it would allow students to take ownership in communicating these goals to our school community. One of habits in the LIM process is to encourage students to “find your voice and inspire others to find theirs.” This teaches them to find and communicate their unique personal significance–who they are and what they stand for. Giving students the voice and leadership opportunity to identify LIM habits that are important to them and then communicate them in a way that other students can understand more clearly would be an outcome goal of this project. Oftentimes students are influenced by and respect the words of their peers oftentimes more-so than their teachers or others in authority. This would create another avenue for students to communicate and hear LIM habits from a unique perspective. And because this will be a school-wide endeavor, the impact of this program could contribute to the reduction of isolation across races, cultures while improving student achievement. These speaking, creative, and leadership skills will also prepare students for employment in the future.
Jill Pierce, Kelly Robertson, Laura Bradshaw, Crowders Creek Elementary
We are seeking funding to purchase two Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) boards ($780.26 + $100 mounting materials) for the Crowders Creek Primary and Elementary playgrounds. Playground communication boards are large solid boards with symbol communication on them placed on or near playgrounds. These make communication accessible to AAC users while they're outside with friends. These boards also raise awareness of AAC and are a great way to get the entire community familiar with symbol-based language! These permanent, weatherproof and vandal proof boards will provide a shared visual language to support children and community members who have limited or no verbal speech. This project will support inclusivity, reduce social isolation, and empower all children to engage fully in play and interaction.
Hali Porter, Blue Eagle Academy
All children deserve the opportunity to communicate and engage meaningfully with their peers during play. This project aims to foster inclusive communication through the implementation of Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) tools, specifically large, portable communication boards.
Basil Qaqish, Clover High
This project is to provide chess material to all schools. Material includes chess sets, chess clocks, books, etc. In addition, I will try to go visit different schools, in arrangement with the schools, and with my wonderful bosses at Clover High. I can go for training sessions, teaching kids the game. Playing multiple games with kids, etc.
Natalie Randolph, Crowders Creek Elementary
Imagine students huddled together in a classroom corner, a hallway nook, or a shared creative space, racing to crack secret codes, shine UV lights to reveal hidden messages, twist open combination locks, and solve standards-based puzzles before time runs out. The “Think Outside the Locks” Breakout Station brings critical thinking and creativity anywhere in the school, transforming ordinary spaces into high-energy problem-solving zones. Students will collaborate, persevere, and think outside the box while experiencing the thrill of unlocking challenges connected directly to academic content. With portable kits, reusable puzzles, and multi-sensory clues, this project delivers an innovative, immersive experience that can pop up anywhere learning happens.
adding a chicken run to the existing coop, adding a fence to divide the goat enclosure to support rotation of fields, and adding a new enclosure for summer pigs. Summer pigs require additional considerations to accommodate for their inability to sweat. Adding an additional pig area would provide summer pigs with actual cool dirt and trees for shade. In order to add rabbits to our farm, secure enclosures protected from predators need to be a priority. Rabbits are an excellent option for families just getting started with raising show animals. Unfortunately, more and more families are not equipped to house animals in their own homes. Obviously, adding rabbits to our farm will enhance the overall hands-on experience for our families. Finally, providing multi-species opportunities for our students, families, and community will not only enhance the overall learning experience, but it will also ensure that agriculture literacy has a place to grow! With most families being at least 2 and 3 generations removed from the ‘farm’, students, especially, are missing opportunities to learn life skills on the farm. More specifically, students aren’t developing a passion for agriculture. Fewer and fewer youth are following an agricultural path. More and more farmers are retiring with no new generations filling the gaps. Without a passion for agriculture, we are all directly affected!
Keisha Robinson, Clover Middle
Building on the existing vision of the CMS Farm, this project will focus on providing students, families, and the community with hands-on learning opportunities related to agriculture. This year’s focus is to update existing enclosures that will support ongoing animal projects and provide more interactions with a variety of animal species like dairy goats, cattle, and rabbits. This proposal supports building adequate animal spaces and facilities for raising multiple species. CMS currently has enclosures for pigs, chickens, and goats. Updates would include
Misty L Smith, Bethel Elementary
I would like to purchase a document camera to use when doing read-alouds, student-led show and tell, and student-led projects. I would also like to purchase playaways for our students who struggle with reading and feel left out during reading time.
Danyelle Wilson, Oakridge Elementary
The purpose of this project is to integrate the Abii Robot into my classroom to provide students with engaging, personalized support in both ELA and math. Abii adapts to each learner’s needs by offering interactive practice aligned to grade-level standards, giving immediate feedback, and tracking progress over time. This innovative tool helps improve student achievement by reinforcing core literacy and math skills, while also motivating students to stay focused through its fun, game-like format. By reducing instructional gaps and supporting small-group differentiation, Abii strengthens daily instruction and provides a model for how technology can enhance learning across Clover School District.
Michelle Young & Abigail Hutto, Bethel Elementary
In our fifth-grade classroom, we learn all about how ecosystems work together interdependently. Students must know that all organisms need energy to live and grow. However, what does that look like in South Carolina when our poor clay soil doesn’t allow us to grow crops year-round, especially with the extreme weather conditions we can sometimes have? Well, for one, we can grow food in our classroom through the use of a hydroponic garden. However, what is a hydroponic garden and what makes it so special? A hydroponic garden is a system for growing plants without soil, using a nutrient-rich water solution instead. This method allows plants to receive water, oxygen, and nutrients directly to their roots, leading to faster and more efficient growth in a controlled environment. This has multiple benefits for both our students and our school community, allowing us to make an impact on even more students.
Nick Branyon, Matt Maurer, Sharon Nguyen, Yvonne Pierce, Tracey Player, and Rodney Tatum, Ninth Grade Campus
The Social Studies Department at Clover Ninth Grade Campus is seeking funding to purchase Brick kits and supplies to enhance Human Geography instruction by making abstract concepts—such as Population, Political Geography, and Urbanization—more tangible and engaging. Through hands-on modeling and collaborative design challenges, students will deepen their understanding of spatial relationships, demographic patterns, and the built environment. This initiative supports sustainable, reusable learning by investing in durable materials that can be used across multiple classrooms and school years. The bricks will provide a tactile, visual, and inclusive approach to exploring complex geographic ideas, making them especially effective for diverse learners. Shared across the department, the kits will benefit hundreds of students annually through project-based experiences that promote creativity, collaboration, and critical thinking.
