2024 Educational Mini Grants - What They're Up To

As the 2025 Educational Mini Grant Cycle wraps up at BCCF and announcements are near, it is a perfect time to give an update on some of last year's recipients and what they have been able to accomplish with the Educational Mini Grant funds!

Jennings Elementary School - Mileage Club Tokens

Through the Quincy Educational Endowment, the Jennings Elementary School Mileage Club received $515 to purchase tokens as an incentive for students to participate in walking or running in the Mileage Club, promoting healthy activity while having fun. Tokens are "toes," or charms added to the student's shoelaces for each mile they complete on the track. Many students who struggled with participation are motivated through earning their tokens, becoming dedicated members of the program. There is also friendly competition between grade levels to see who compiles the most miles as a class, along with a boy and girl winner of the program who receive a medal and sign a golden shoe for display in the school's trophy case for running the most miles. For the 2024-2025 school year, the Mileage Club as a whole ran 2,567 miles!

Quincy Middle School - 3D Scanner

Quincy Middle School was also a recipient of the Quincy Educational Endowment Mini Grant, receiving $449 for the STEM class to purchase a 3D scanner. Over the last two school years, the STEM class has been growing to expose students to a new world of science content. Through a drafting, software program called TinkerCAD, students are able to create avatar images and turn them into real life, printed 3D objects. The first project the class completed together, was creating an avatar named Bob and printing 23 copies of him, one for each student. There are also group project opportunities for the students to create all-terrain wheelchairs, fix broken shopping carts, create moveable objects for a skatepark, and more! This program allows students to strengthen their connection with science and consider career pathways.

Follow the link to view the step by step process of the STEM class's first 3D printing project with Mrs. Benson: https://go.screenpal.com/watch/c06YohVEF6H

Coldwater High School - AP Language and Composition

Through an $817 grant from the Coldwater Community Schools Enrichment Fund, 11th grade students at Coldwater High School began exploring modern genocides, researching more in addition to the Holocaust. Students familiarize themselves with important pieces of history to learn from, and to help create a stronger and more accepting path in society. As AP Language and Composition students are now in a rotating schedule, there were not enough copies of books to go around. These funds allowed the AP class to purchase 60 copies of memoirs, ranging across six different genocides. Students participated in a group project, exploring several different points in history that they were previously unfamiliar with.

Educational Mini Grant Cycles are held once a year from April 1 through April 30. Each fund has its own criteria and selection committee for the mini grant cycle, and donations to the funds are welcomed year-round. To learn more about each Mini Grant Cycle, visit the Community Foundation’s website at www.BrCoFoundation.org. 

The Branch County Community Foundation is a non-profit organization and a nationally accredited community foundation that serves communities in Branch County and Colon, Michigan by supporting charitable giving, building permanent endowments, and connecting community resources.  For more information about becoming a board member, please contact the Branch County Community Foundation by calling 517.278.4517 or visit their website at www.BrCoFoundation.org.