2025 TEACH Grants

AUGUST 2024 –Marion Community Foundation’s TEACH Grants Program seeks to support innovative and motivational programs for local classroom teachers – typically for programs and projects not covered by typical school budgets. As the 2025-26 academic year kicks off, more than $35,000 in awards is poised to support a wide range of academic and extracurricular offerings throughout Marion and Morrow County schools.

The 2025 TEACH awards are supporting classroom teachers’ ideas for expanding art, science, and music offerings, as well as addressing needs in communication and student self-improvement. A total of 21 projects were funded for student programs in K-12 classrooms. The awards include:

COMMUNICATION

Highland High School – Biliteracy 2026 and Beyond – Highland’s Biliteracy 2026 and Beyond project seeks to enhance Spanish proficiency for juniors and seniors through an innovative curriculum using authentic media. By integrating high-quality resources and rigorous assessment, this initiative prepares students for Ohio’s Seal of Biliteracy, equipping them with valuable bilingual skills for academic and professional success.

Marion City Schools Hayes Elementary – Playground Communication Boards – The Playground Communication Boards for Hayes Elementary School project’s goal is to improve communication, inclusion, independence, and social skills for all students in Pre-K through 5th grade. The project is to develop, purchase, and install four permanent core communication boards across all three playgrounds at Hayes Elementary School.

Marion City Schools George Washington Elementary – Playground Communications Sign – A communication sign for the playground with symbols will allow staff to help students understand directions and model language. Students can use the board to access symbols and words so they can tell staff and peers how they feel or meet wants and needs. It encourages inclusivity by showing other ways to communicate with non-verbal peers.

Elgin Middle School – Comet Christmas Classic Wrestling Tournament marketing/graphic design/STEM project – The CCCWT Project merges marketing, graphic design, and STEM skills. Students in grades 6-8 create designs using Chromebooks, then produce tournament materials using personal fabrication and crafting tools. This real-world, interdisciplinary approach fosters creativity, community engagement, and entrepreneurial skills while providing authentic learning experiences that prepare students for the future.

PHYSICAL EDUCATION

Elgin High School – Archery – This grant provides funding for archery instruction for students at Elgin High School. This is an activity that students have never had at Elgin. Hopefully students will enjoy learning a new skill, make new friends, and feel a sense of accomplishment in learning new skills.

Highland High School – Strength & Conditioning Software Initiative – The Highland High School Strength & Conditioning Software Initiative provides high school students individualized workout plans and real-time progress tracking. This innovative program leverages technology to enhance fitness education, empowering students with personalized training strategies and data-driven insights to optimize their physical performance and long-term wellness.

AGRICULTURE

Marion Harding High School – 4th Grade Ag Day – Harding’s 4th Grade Ag Day is a student-led event where high school agribusiness students teach 4th graders about agriculture through interactive, hands-on activities. This program fosters agricultural literacy, leadership development, and mentorship while engaging young students in the importance of farming, sustainability, and the food system.

MUSIC

Marion Harding High School – Reimagining Our Repertoire: Enhancing Band Music for Student Engagement – The Harding band program is expanding its repertoire with fresh, educationally sound, and culturally relevant music for concert band, beginning band, pep band, and jazz band. This grant will increase student engagement for grades 6-12, improve music literacy, and foster inclusivity, ensuring students experience high-quality music that inspires them.

River Valley High School – Instrument Repair – The River Valley Band Program will use a TEACH grant for instrument repair, impacting students in grades 5-12. The band program is dedicated to fostering musical excellence, personal growth, and school pride through performance and community outreach. We strive to provide students with meaningful opportunities to develop their talents, inspire audiences, and serve our community, creating lifelong musicians and leaders.

ART

Marion Harding High School – Have Art: Will Travel – The Have Art: Will Travel program will provide the Harding Art Department with portable high-quality display boards. The goal of this program is to increase Harding art student visibility, both within Marion City Schools and the greater Marion community.

Pleasant High School – Slab Tile Clay Puzzle Project – This project, for 9th-12th grade art students will facilitate working together on a larger scale in ceramics classes and to create a piece of art that will withstand the test of time and will become a permanent fixture within Pleasant.

River Valley Liberty Elementary – Enhancing Elementary Art Education Through Ceramics – An elementary ceramics program will be launched and implemented by grant. Students will have the opportunity to experience the unique and engaging world of ceramics in school and foster their creativity in a new and special way.

SELF-IMPROVEMENT

Marion Harding High School – Building Resilience Through Art and Storytelling – “Building Resilience Through Art and Storytelling” will provide at-risk students with a meaningful way to build resilience, express their emotions, and gain a sense of empowerment. Through the use of Resilience Journals, students will benefit during the project and develop a long-term resource for emotional well-being.

TECHNOLOGY

Marion City Schools Hayes Elementary – 3D Printing Club – The 3D printing club at Hayes aims to teach students in grades 2-5 about new technologies available to them with the goal of fostering creativity, and a love for helping others, through hands-on learning experiences that will prepare them for careers and hobbies in a tech driven world.

River Valley Liberty Elementary – 3-D Printing – Creativity and innovation will be brought to life in 4th grade! Students will create models for science, design historical artifacts, build geometric shapes, and craft book characters. Students will work collaboratively with others, make real-world connections to technology, and become active creators of their learning.

LIFE SKILLS

Mt. Gilead Local Schools – Bringing Back Life Skills – The Life Skills course at Mount Gilead equips high school students with essential skills for independent living, including cooking, meal planning, home maintenance, and basic repairs. This grant will restore our kitchen’s functionality, providing students with hands-on learning opportunities to develop practical, real-world skills that promote self-sufficiency and lifelong success.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Pleasant Middle School – Shark Tank – Pleasant’s 6th grade students will engage in a multi-week project studying economics and entrepreneurship and will become entrepreneurs presenting their innovative business ideas to community members posing as investors in a format similar to the popular tv show Shark Tank.

SCIENCE

Pleasant High School – Forensic Examination of ballistic and trace evidence: Two birds…One microscope – This grant will provide lessons for Pleasant High School’s forensic students in examination of fingerprint patterns, determining which hair and fibers are consistent with evidence samples, and excluding evidence from belonging to a victim.

Ridegdale Jr./Sr. High School – Labs For Science – Ridgedale students in grades 9-12 will use different types of experiments to foster classroom engagement. Whether the students are culturing bacteria, looking at ultraviolet light sensors, or making cast of footprints and tires, they will get the hands-on experience to better understand the science world around them.

LITERACY

River Valley Heritage Elementary – Literacy Bags – If learning slows down over the holiday break, students can lose some of the academic gains they made during classroom time. Literacy Bags engage and enhance reading skills at home during the holiday break from school for students in kindergarten through 5^th grade.

St. Mary School – St. Mary School Library – TEACH grant funds will enhance the St. Mary School library experience: with exciting new books, special guest speakers, engaging activities, and cozy furniture, to create a space where children in grades K-8 love to read.

The TEACH (Teaching, Educating And Classroom Help) Grants Program has been offered annually by Marion Community Foundation since 2020. In that time, it has awarded more than $108,000 to area schools. The selection committee is chaired by Nicolle Willis and includes Rhonda Dettra, Christine Gibson, Jennifer Lawson, Stan Nicol, Matt Primmer, and Tom Schifer. Applications become available in February for the following academic year.

Marion Community Foundation was established in 1998 to support local nonprofit organizations and students. Annually, more than $2.5 million in scholarships and grants are awarded, thanks to numerous local donors, with the goal of supporting the wellbeing of the community. President and CEO Julie Prettyman and a staff of seven, along with a 15-member Board of Directors, manage the philanthropic activities of the foundation. Offices are located at 504 S. State St. in Marion.

Additional information is available by contacting katemccleese@marioncommunityfoundation.org or calling 740-387-9704.

The TEACH Grants program supports local education and is made possible by the following endowment funds at Marion Community Foundation:

Supporting all schools:
Pillar Credit Union Teachers’ Fund
Pillar Credit Union Morrow County Teachers’ Fund
Ray & Charlotte Baldauf Fund
Stephen J. & Mary “Sally” Byrnes Memorial Fund
Supporting specific schools:
River Valley Teachers Fund
Marion Education Foundation Fund
Brown Family Teachers Fund
Joan Zucker Milner Memorial Teachers’ Fund
Growing funds:
David K. Miller Teachers’ Fund
Phil & Sonia Haas Teachers’ Fund
Steven Family Education Fund
and numerous individual donors.