Lexington One Educational Foundation Awards $20,000+ in Innovation Grants for K-8 Schools for 2023-2024 School Year

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April 10, 2023, LEXINGTON, S.C. — The Lexington One Educational Foundation recently awarded a total of $20,178 in Innovation Grants for K-8 Schools to five schools in Lexington County School District One.

These Innovation Grants, valued at up to $5,000 each, advance existing or future cutting-edge educational efforts at the elementary or middle school level. Each school had to commit to a 10% match in order to apply. This Educational Foundation investment will positively affect 3,323 students in Lexington District One during the 2023-24 school year, which is when the grant projects will be implemented.

Congratulations to the following Lexington District One schools for their 2023-2024 Lexington One Educational Foundation Innovation Grant award:

• Beechwood Middle School – $5,000.00 Innovation Grant Award – The “Seeing is Believing” project will bring virtual reality and augmented reality instruction to BMS.  This multi-modal way of learning allows students to become more engaged and interact with the academic content teachers are presenting.
• Carolina Springs Elementary School – $619.24 Innovation Grant Award – The “Teamwork for Morning Work” project will provide STEAM bins for morning activities.  Bins will contain task cards that picture a variety of real-world structures and problem simulations that require students to build/create, collaborate, communicate, and critically imagine.
• Carolina Springs Middle School – $5,000 Innovation Grant Award – The “Let them Play!” project will construct a playground space that is developmentally appropriate for middle school children. Research supports the positive impact of physical activity on brain functioning, problem-solving skills, language development, social skills, and more. This will be the first middle school in Lexington School District One to develop a playground space for young adolescent learners.
• Midway Elementary School – $4,711.85 Innovation Grant Award – The “Spike LEGO Robotics” project will enhance the school’s STEM education by teaching design, creativity, building, programming, problem-solving, teamwork, communication, and more to the MES students.
• Pleasant Hill Elementary School – $4,711.85 Innovation Grant Award – The “More Than Just a Game” project will use funds to purchase a collection of critical-reasoning games that will compliment all content areas and develop students’ skills in literacy, critical thinking, creativity, collaboration and communication.

Foundation Executive Director Julie Anderson Washburn stated, “Each year the Lexington One Educational Foundation Board of Directors encourages innovation in the classroom by offering these grants. Over the past nine years, the Educational Foundation has awarded 41 Innovation Grants worth a total investment of $174,345 in Lexington District One. These Innovation Grants have created some amazing learning experiences at seventeen of our schools, which have positively impacted close to 27,000 students. We are so pleased to support such inventive educational opportunities for our elementary and middle school students. We are also very thankful to individuals and businesses that invest in Lexington District One through charitable gifts to the Educational Foundation.”