News
student success grants
In communities across Charlevoix County, schools provide students with a nurturing place for learning and growing. In addition to engaging activities, challenging concepts, and valuable extra-curricular experiences, schools are increasingly providing food and clothing or support navigating post-secondary career paths. With dedicated school personnel as our partners, and working in tandem with our donors, we remove barriers to learning as well as increase opportunities for students to achieve through C3F Student Success grants.
C3F partners with school leaders to offer strategic support to make a difference where tax support can't. Student Success grants are available to schools across Charlevoix County including Beaver Island, Boyne City, Boyne Falls, Charlevoix, and East Jordan. Recent grants had a huge impact on each school’s ability to provide engaging opportunities and encourage students to become successful community citizens.
In Boyne City, grants supported two important initiatives. First, they supported “Where Everybody Belongs” - a highly successful mentoring and transition program which offers training, games, and bonding events between 8th grade mentors and 5th graders. This helps make the transition from elementary to middle school easier for students and can even help stop bullying by bringing students together. Secondly, funds purchased high-quality jerseys for a new 7th and 8th grade eSports team, and its impact went far beyond new uniforms. Fourteen students regularly participated in the club—many of whom were not involved in any other extracurricular activities. Receiving official jerseys with a custom team logo helped build a strong sense of identity and pride. Students wore their jerseys on game days, which increased visibility, boosted morale, and gave them something to look forward to each week.
In Charlevoix, grant dollars supported multiple projects. First, a grant enabled the art class to purchase a large format plotter printer, TV, and display stand which has significantly improved their abilities to showcase student artwork. In the past year, students printed and displayed more than 20 digital artworks at multiple juried art shows. As a direct result, four students have earned art scholarships including the top prize at the Jordan River Arts Council Scholarship Show. Second, funds helped complete classroom STEM sets with the purchase of 3D pens and Osmo kits - an interactive learning system that uses STEM, coding, and hands-on activities to create real-world play experiences. The Osmo Kits purchased for CES teachers successfully boosted student engagement and academic achievement in literacy and math. Finally, Mr. Barnum’s Outdoor Living and Michigan Living classes took on two projects last year: maple syrup production and garden rehabilitation. With support from Student Success funds, the student purchased an evaporator pan for boiling, filters, processing materials, storage containers, and tree tapping kits for farm-to-table maple syrup collection. With grants funds, they also purchased fencing and gardening materials and planted 28 fruit trees!
In Boyne Falls, a Student Success grant allowed 5th graders to learn about hydroponic growing. Features of the lesson plan included learning about germination, investigating problems, hypothesizing and testing solutions, and transplanting. They also did activities like measuring the pH and adding nutrients to the tower, harvesting greens for the cafeteria, writing planting and harvest manuals, and presenting their findings to the kindergarteners down the hall with research posters. In the end, students were able to plant, grow and harvest lettuce, kale and rainbow chard that they could have at lunch the next day.