Carol Martin, left, received a grant for $763 from the Bullard Education Foundation. The foundation awarded more than $26,000 in grants during a surprise visit to the BISD (Banner Staff Photo by Doc Smith) campuses Friday, Jan. 22. Foundation board member Phil Wood, right, presented Martin a “check” for the amount of the grant to be used for school communication. With a parade atmosphere led by the Bullard High School Drum Line, the Bullard Education Foundation awarded 12 grants to teachers at each of the Bullard Independent School District campuses Friday, Jan. 22.

The grants totaled $26,832. The “Grants for Excellence” included robotics/data automated; wireless slates for math; literature-corresponding books on tape; plasma table/software for the agriculture department; and more.

According to Bullard Education Foundation President Darren Davis, the foundation provided a grant-writing workshop for BISD teachers. Grant applications were submitted and followed with a blind review by a Bullard Foundation committee. The committee scored all of the applications and awarded the top 12 grants.

The Bullard Education Foundation presented 12 grants for more than $26,000 (Banner Staff Photo by Doc Smith) to educators at Bullard Independent School District. “It’s an exciting day for Bullard ISD and the Bullard Education Foundation,” Davis said. “We were able to take the funds from very generous donations and do exactly what we said we were going to do. It’s very gratifying to the foundation to see the Bullard children, teachers and district benefit directly from our efforts. It’s been our goal since day one.”

BISD Superintendent Keith Bryant, a trio of BISD trustees, donors (including individuals and business owners) and students accompanied foundation members as they presented the grants. Davis said none of the teachers were aware the grants were to be awarded Friday.

At Bullard Primary School, the foundation awarded a grant of $918 to Amy Stewart for play therapy therapeutic games to assist students coping with emotional stress/trauma.

At Bullard elementary School, the foundation awarded a grant of $901 to Carol Martin for a set of biographies: “Great African Americans, Hispanics, Overcoming Challenges.”

At Bullard Intermediate School, the foundation presented a grant of $5,000 to Rose Plumb with the math department, for Airliner Wireless Slates; and a grant of $1,000 to Lori Greene for the student cost of admission for Blast-Off Sci Port.

The foundation awarded a grant of $2,995 at Bullard Middle School to Tanya Bryant for a computer-based manipulative to explore more than 400 science topics.

At Bullard High School, the foundation awarded grants of $860 to Amy McKeethan with the health-science department for a anatomical torso model; $1,000 to Stacey Gwartney for historical/theoretical information through a handson lab; $450 to Tabitha Hippler for literature-corresponding books on tape, reading gaps focus for Hispanic students; $3,774 to Gwartney for robotics/data automated Cartesian diver for 11th- and 12th-grade science; $5,000 to Jeremy Bruton for plasma table/supporting software, fabrication, design and engineering for the agriculture department; $763 to Martin, the high school librarian, for school/community communications; and $4,170 to Jan Berry for integrated maps (geo-spatial awareness hands-on while integrating technology).