Three grants from the Cheryl Lyn Welter Family Charitable Foundation were presented during Tuesday’s Knox School Board meeting.
High School Special Education Teacher Tammie Radican was awarded $300 for the school’s new Best Buddies chapter. “It pairs a student with an intellectual disability with a buddy, a student up here within the school that does not have an intellectual disability,” she explained, “and it fosters friendships.”
Radican said the buddies take part in activities at school and out in the community. She added that Knox is one of only a few northern Indiana high schools to have a Best Buddies chapter.
Elementary School Guidance Counselor Tara Nantz received $200 to help start a “comfort closet.” “We have a lot of kids that come in, and they are in the need of hygiene products, deodorants, tooth brush, toothpastes, shampoos, body washes, lice kits,” she explained.
Meanwhile, Third Grade Teacher Dennis Briciu got $230 to take part in a program through Scholastic that will give students books to take home. “These kids can actually go home, show their parents, read with their parents because there’s so much research out that shows if they’re reading with an adult at home, their vocabulary increases,” he said. “Everything just goes up. So I really want to push that in my classroom.”
Harold Welter said that Tuesday’s grant presentation brings the total number of grants the foundation has awarded up to 40, totaling almost $11,000.
