Rising Sun HS Teacher Selected to be 2024 Grants in Place Fellow

The Fellows will work with their respective students on place-based projects, which address specific community issues.

Photo provided.

(Rising Sun, Ind.) – Rising Sun High School teacher Andrea Levi has won a competitive grant for the Indiana and Great Lakes region.

Rural Schools Collaborative recently announced their 2023-24 Grants in Place Fellow recipients. The Fellows will work with their respective students on place-based projects, which address specific community issues.

For this project, the “Grow Your Own” teacher pipeline students taking Child and Adolescent Development and Introduction to Teaching courses will be building developmentally appropriate learning boxes to address the lack of educational resources for preschoolers in the local community.

“The local community currently has no resources for the 0-3 age group and the school is the only preschool provider in the county,” said Levi.

Students will create reading, math and science, music and art and diversity boxes to place in the local public library. Andrea and her students also plan to create boxes for older students that could be used by teachers or parents to enhance the school curriculum or provide summer enrichment.

Levi hopes the project will strengthen families and their commitment to their child’s education. The goal is that families and teachers of elementary children will use these resources to enhance their curriculum.

Each Grants in Place Fellow receives a $3,000 grant that supports the student-centered place-based project, a professional development presentation, and an honorarium for the educator.

About Andrea Levi

She is in her 22nd year of teaching. She currently teaches Integrated Chemistry/Physical Science, Chemistry I, Chemistry II, Advanced Chemistry, Child and Adolescent Development and Introduction to Teaching at Rising Sun High School. Levi is also an advisor for Science Club, an Academic Team coach and the junior class sponsor, in addition to serving on the school’s union bargaining committee and the school leadership team.