Centennial Education Foundation Awards More Than $25,000 in Grants

The Centennial Education Foundation hosted its annual awards banquet Tuesday morning at Ann's Choice and handed out more than $25,000 in grants to teachers from the Centennial School District.

Each year, the CEF honors individual teachers with up to $500 dollars of funding to provide educational enrichment programs for their classrooms. Past examples of programs include funding for student internships, computer software, and reading and mathematics materials.

This year, programs funded include an anti-bullying campaign, butterflies in the classroom, and even fashion design made out of recyclable goods. The CEF has awarded approximately $250,000 dollars in grants to teachers since the organization’s founding in 1997.

“At the end of the day, this program is not just about providing 48 grants, it is about the educational impact that these grants will have on the thousands of students in the district,” said Robert Schrader, executive director of the CEF.

Some of the grants had very creative titles, including "Going Even Further Upstream with Trout," awarded to teachers Joseph Pisacano, Megan Schumann and Maria Ansanelli.

"We use the money to help purchase trout eggs from the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission," said Pisacano. "The kids get the eggs in October and watch them hatch and mature, then we release them into the Neshaminy Creek at Tyler State Park in May."

Providing help for classroom initiatives such as this, which are not funded by the district's general operating budget, was the primary mission for the CEF when it was started in 1997 by Carolyn Fisher and Ron Schumann, who still serve on the CEF board.

"We want to do everything we can to enhance the school experience for the students," said Fisher. "It's a pretty competitive process. We had almost 100 applicants this year."