North Marion Primary School Teachers Win Maps Grant!

By Jillian Daley

One night, Primary School teachers were discussing improving instruction when they had a realization: Many local students just don’t have age-appropriate books to practice reading at home — so they realized they’d just have to make them. The only issue was the books were only black and white and finding funding for paper and color ink proved challenging.

But not anymore, thanks to Maps Community Foundation, the nonprofit wing of Maps Credit Union. This team of first-grade teachers — Meredith Akin, Kaitlyn Harbick, Joshua Mitchell, Shawnti Peachey, and Kymberlee Rhodes — landed one of 20 coveted $1,000 Teacher Grants that Maps Community Foundation awards to educators in the Mid-Willamette Valley region. Akin accepted a giant ceremonial check on Tuesday, Dec. 7. She had written the grant and so accepted a check, but during a first-grade teacher meeting on Wednesday, Dec. 8, Akin was quick to share credit.

“They are all a part of it,” Akin says. “I’m just the person who wrote and submitted the grant.”

“She did it all,” Peachey teases.

The teachers have been creating grade-level specific educational materials within the curriculum to take home and learn. With the help of a grant, they can now print more of them — and in bold, beautiful color. 

“It feels like a real book,” Akin notes.

“It puts a book in their hands,” Rhodes agrees. “A lot of families don’t have that.”

The teachers will all share the pleasure of spending the dollars on materials that are not only designed specifically for their students’ age group (as opposed to whatever books may or may not be available in a home) but are okay to keep at home to bolster reading skills.

“I grew up with a lot of books,” Harbick says. “I know how impactful that was.”

Having those books around will just make teaching easier, Peachey explains.

“It makes me feel confident that they have something to practice at home,” Peachey says. “Home communications make a big difference in learning.”

Mitchell notes that not only do some families not have children’s books at home, they might not even know the big difference that can make in a child’s education. 

“It might not even be a thought,” he says.

Now, it most definitely is.

"I would like to acknowledge the fact that Karla Morales-Rivera is the one who brought the grant opportunity to me," Primary School Principal Allison Hunt says. "The first-grade team contacted me about what they wanted to do and they had my full support."