Junior League Awards Grants to Local Teachers

Published on Wed, Jul 30, 2014 (3:50 p.m.)

Submitted by Junior League of Las Vegas

Calling All Clark County Teachers:

Junior League Announces Annual Education Grant Opportunity

For 29th Year in a Row, Local Organization Will Award Grants of Up to $1,000 to Support Classroom Initiatives



LAS VEGAS (July 29, 2014) — The Junior League of Las Vegas (JLLV) announces plans to award education grants to Clark County schoolteachers for use during the upcoming 2014-15 school year. Educators from primary and secondary schools, both public and private, are encouraged to apply.



Aided by a generous $7,500 contribution from NV Energy, the education grants—up to $1,000 each—are applicable to any creative curriculum, in any subject area, that strives to enhance student learning. Since JLLV began awarding annual education grants in 1985, the organization has contributed nearly half a million dollars to Clark County schools, helping fund classroom initiatives as diverse as community gardens, nutrition, rocketry, robotics, Shakespeare, math, literacy, personal finance, sign language and second languages.



"The Junior League of Las Vegas is committed to improving the lives of its community's citizens, and most importantly its youth,” said JLLV President Ann Richard-Farinha. “Through the support of NV Energy and the work of our fundraising committees, we are able to assist our local teachers with implementing educational programs that current school budgets are often unable to fund.”



In many cases, educators use the grants to provide students with hands-on learning opportunities that go beyond the classroom experience. Steve Kelley of Dondero Elementary used his grant last year to implement a program in which fifth graders applied math skills to build doghouses, which were then auctioned off to help support local animal rescues. Fourth grade teacher Politimi Zondiros of Ruby Thomas Elementary in Henderson developed a hydroponics project to teach her students about the science of growing plants in water instead of soil.


“Many of our students do not have an opportunity to visit museums or see what the world has to offer them,” Zondiros said in her application last year. “This experiment provides an opportunity for my students to see what NASA scientists do…and to see that there is more to learning than just pencil and paper.”



Grant applications can be downloaded from the Junior League of Las Vegas website at www.jllv.org and must be submitted by September 12, 2014 for consideration. Recipients will be announced by October 1.



About Junior League of Las Vegas

The Junior League of Las Vegas (JLLV) is an organization of women committed to promoting volunteerism, developing the potential of women, and improving the community through the effective action and leadership of trained volunteers. Its purpose is exclusively educational and charitable. JLLV is focused on positively affecting the metropolitan Las Vegas area through JLLV programs and teaming with agencies throughout Las Vegas to improve the level of health and wellness in our community. For more information about the JLLV, the community programs we support, and our members, please visit our website at www.jllv.org. The JLLV is a part of the Association of Junior Leagues International (AJLI), which consists of 293 Leagues and more than 155,000 members from the USA, Mexico, Canada and Great Britain. For more information, please go to AJLI’s website at www.ajli.org.