Recent Union Commonwealth University teaching program graduates use grant writing class experience to fund own classrooms

Six teachers who recently graduated from Union Commonwealth University’s Education Specialist (Ed.S) program have been able to implement the teachings of their grant writing professor’s class within their own classrooms to benefit the K-12 students of Northeast Tennessee. After winning grants to put to use in their classrooms, the teachers have been implementing their projects.

According to an article on Union Commonwealth University’s website, Dr. Joy Ramsey, who has been teaching the university’s grant writing course since 2011, was quoted as saying of the course’s benefits for those working in a K-12 environment, “It boosts morale. A lot of times teachers don’t have what they need, and it’s stressful for them. Grant writing helps relieve some of that teacher burnout. They have control. They have hope that they can get what they need to help their students. That’s a long-term benefit, I believe.”

The Education Specialist program is one of two that Union Commonwealth University offers at a graduate level in the Department of Education, the other being the Master of Arts in Educational Leadership program. In order to take part in these graduate-level programs, students must already have a teaching certificate.

Explaining the type of projects her teacher students might pursue after receiving grants they wrote during her class, Dr. Ramsey said, “They’re excited when they come in because there’s a great possibility of getting things they need to help their students. With most of these grants, they get materials or training that they can use year after year.”

One such project is Elizabeth Minton’s funding of back to school supplies thanks to her winning the Helping Teachers Teach Grant from Northeast Community Credit Union in July 2024. She was able to use the $300 grant to purchase the supplies her students would need in the classroom to take the burden off of the students’ families. Minton teaches kindergarten at the Wandell Early Learning Center of East Side Elementary in Elizabethton, which Minton describes as a low-income school. 

“Our school is a low-income school and I thought this funding would help parents of students in my class to not worry about the cost of school supplies,” she said.

Another graduate of the Education Specialist program, Sarah Arnold, teaches first grade at Rock Springs Elementary. Her “Ride to Read” project was funded by the UTrust Mini grant and allowed her to purchase three pedal desks for her classroom that are intended to help students with dyslexia be able to better focus on reading and writing. 

Arnold said, “When you learn kinesthetically, you are firing more neurons in the brain to activate the lobes that help you read. This grant was near to my heart because I struggled to read and write as a child.”

Additionally, teachers at Rock Springs Elementary have completed training from the Orton Gillingham Academy for Dyslexia to continue helping dyslexic students learn in the ways that will help them best.

Jennifer Rickert serves as an instructional coach for the Elizabethton City School System and is a recent graduate of the Union Commonwealth University Education Specialist program. She is using her grant award to teach the Self-Regulated Strategy Development (SRSD) writing method to teachers throughout the East Side, Harold McCormick, and West Side elementary schools. These teachers will then provide information to their own elementary students to help them become more proficient at writing via more self-awareness, critical thinking, and positive self-talk. The method implements more writing instruction into the existing curriculum.

Amy Bridges, Pre-K teacher from Ketron Elementary, and Julie Millard, Pre-K teacher from Rock Spring Discovery Academy, both received a Utrust Mini Grant to enable them to provide better STEAM learning opportunities within their classrooms. Each teacher purchased two Artie 3000 learning bots and two Kindle Fire tablets that will give their preschool students the opportunity to drag and drop computer code to get the Artie bots to draw or write something in particular.

Millard said, “In our schools many times our pre-k students look to older students to see what they are going to be doing. This gives pre-k an opportunity to show the older students something new.”

The final Education Specialist graduate Seth Grindstaff, who teaches English at Science Hill High School in Johnson City, received a grant to train as an AP Research instructor in order to be able to provide more class offerings to his students.

Speaking of the students who have taken her grant writing course since 2011, Dr. Ramsey estimates that they have received nearly $500,000 in funding, and that the funding they receive goes beyond benefitting their own classrooms and their own students, with a lot of the grants being put forward to help entire districts or entire communities, such as via playground equipment. She added, "Knowledge of grant writing can help when unexpected needs arise, such as those created by the recent flooding and aftermath of hurricane Helene.”

For more information about Union Commonwealth University, visit the school’s website.