Westborough – At its membership breakfast held Nov. 27 with nearly 200 members and guests in attendance, the Corridor Nine Area Chamber of Commerce awarded 19 mini-grants to educators totaling $6,449.92.? Grants were awarded for special and worthy projects that benefit students from kindergarten to grade 12. The Chamber's mini-grant program is designed to support the development of innovative teaching ideas and increase student motivation and enthusiasm by providing funds for instructional experimentation and enrichment activities.
Since the mini-grant program's inception, 353 grants have been awarded totaling over $104,252.?Funding for the grants is dependent upon donations from chamber members.?Donations have been made from private individuals, businesses and corporations in the chamber's core towns of Westborough, Northborough, Southborough, Shrewsbury, and Grafton.
Chamber officials thanked the following grant sponsors: Gold Sponsors:? Avidia Bank, Bank of America, BJ's Wholesale Club, Marlborough Savings Bank, PENTA Communications, Inc., and St. Mary's Credit Union; Silver Sponsors: Aalanco Service Corporation, Beaumont Rehabilitation and Skilled Nursing Centers, Central One Federal Credit Union, CK Educational Services, Datachem Software, Inc., Glick Nissan, New England Coaching, Shrewsbury Federal Credit Union, Webster Five Cents Savings Bank; Copper Sponsors:? Alexander, Aronson, Finning & Co., P.C., Cumulus Global, Dolan & Maloney Insurance, Gilmore Building Company, Lian, Zarrow, The MotivAct Group, Precision Marketing Group, LLC, and Sovereign Bank.
The recipients of the 2012 mini-Grants are:
Marisa Marzilli/Amanda Sharpe
Proctor School, Northborough
Project Title:? Let the Fun Begin!
Dominique LePaul
Melican Middle School, Northborough
Project Title:? Copying the Masters!
Nancy Bedard
Oak Middle School, Shrewsbury
Project Title:? Research Matters for College and Career Readiness
Melissa DeMayo
Assabet Valley Regional Technical High School, Marlborough
Project Title:? Our Neighborhood
Gretchen Bean/ Jennifer Callaghan
Melican Middle School, Northborough
Project Title:? Journey to Jo”Burg – A Struggle for Freedom and Dignity
Joan Truesdell
Hastings Elementary School, Westborough
Project Title:? Taming Time: Helping Young Children to Understand and Manage Time
Darcy Messineo
Spring Street School, Shrewsbury
Project Title: Describing with Details
Patricia Rollins
Lincoln Street School, Northborough
Project Title: The Quest for Knowledge and Wellness: Geocaching
Lori Miller
Proctor School, Northborough
Project Title:? Score!? Kick-Off with Storytelling
Kim Spiliakos/Carolyn Swenson
Zeh School, Northborough
Project Title:? Getting in the Zone: Self-Regulation & Emotional Control for a Productive School Day
Sheila Lipka
Hastings Elementary School, Westborough
Project Title:? Cooking Up Cultural Connections – The Family Book Club
Mary Anne Jezierski
St. Bernadette School, Northborough
Project Title:? Caching In on History
Christine Hall/Maria Mihalek
Proctor School, Northborough
Project Title:? Mosaic Memories: Reflections of our School Days
Christine Lincoln/Nancy Pojani
Melican Middle School, Northborough
Project Title:? Enriching the Mathematics Curriculum
Teresa Dillenkoffer
St. Bernadette School, Northborough
Project Title: Let Your Voice Be Seen
Ellen O”Leary/Cara Demoga/Suzanne Margiano
Floral Street Elementary School, Shrewsbury
Project Title:? Strengthening the School Community through Social Thinking and Self-Regulation
Paul Airoldi
Assabet Valley Regional Technical High School, Marlborough
Project Title:? Virtual Auto Fault – Learning How to Diagnose and Repair a Computerized Vehicle with a Computer
Lori Gompf
Trottier Middle School, Southborough
Project Title:? Investigating Topography using GPS and GIS
Erin Kendrick
Oak Middle School, Shrewsbury
Project Title: Findings: Sharing the Work of Student Scientists