Archive: Around Town

The Ithaca Public Education Initiative (IPEI) has awarded $8,015 in its third quarterly round of Red and Gold Grants for the 2013-14 school year. The 19 new grants will assist teachers, administrators, students, and community members with projects that strengthen and enrich education across the Ithaca City School District (ICSD).

“We are always astounded at how teachers are able to utilize a small grant to make huge impacts in the classroom,” said IPEI Executive Director Chris Sanchirico.  “For this round, IPEI grants are funding everything from practical needs like clay for artwork to a multi-school/grade level dinosaur project that integrates music, art and science.  We are proud to play a role in providing such great opportunities to enhance learning in our school district and thankful for the community support that allows us to do so.”

Red and Gold Grant recipients in this cycle include the following examples. The full list (including the first two rounds of this year, Teacher Grants and Community Collaboration Grants) is found at ipei.org.

• Iris Milich, an art teacher at Northeast Elementary School, who will take first- and second-grade students to Cornell’s Johnson Museum, where they will learn how artists can influence others to be environmental stewards and ambassadors.
• Michelle Kirchgraber-Newton, an ESOL teacher at DeWitt Middle School, who has arranged for the Karen Refugee Dance Troupe from Utica to teach, perform, and discuss the history and cultural traditions of the Karen people.
• Lita Remsen, an aide at South Hill Elementary School, who will help fifth graders build a science toy or gadget using recycled materials, batteries, magnets, and small motors, and then share their invention with their Kindergarten buddies.
• Jackie Richardson, an art teacher at Ithaca High School, who has arranged for a local glass artist to show students in the Studio in Crafts course how to create artwork by fusing, casting, and slumping glass in the heat of a kiln.

As part of this round of Red and Gold Grants, IPEI awarded two in memory of Chuck Brodhead from the Charles W. and Phyllis B. Brodhead Memorial Fund. Cara Salibrici, a sixth grade Social Studies teacher at Boynton Middle School, will introduce her class to Antarctica by reading about Ernest Shackleton’s expedition and listening to the first-hand experiences of a local community member who spends part of each year in Antarctica as a tour guide. Music teacher Allison Scott who will bring dinosaurs to life for students at Beverly J. Martin, Cayuga Heights, and South Hill Elementary Schools through song, musical instruments, art, and presentations by a Museum of the Earth staff member.

IPEI is a not-for-profit organization that connects the Ithaca City School District and the community through collaboration, engagement, gifts and grants. For more information, see www.ipei.org or contact 256-IPEI (4734) or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

IPEI Red and Gold Grants Recipients 2013–14 (Round 3)

Ceramics for All!
Gary Bercow/LACS

Implementation of CCLS modules
Kathleen Cole/Boynton

Environmental Ambassadors, We Can Make a Difference
Iris Milich/Northeast

Discover Endurance: What We Can Learn From Shackleton*
Cara Salibrici/Boynton

Get on the Bus!
Beth Hardesty/Ithaca High

ICSD District-wide Traveling Waste Reduction Installation
Dan Flerlage/District Wide

Bears Bears Everywhere!
Allison Anderson/Fall Creek

Ask Magazine Subscription for all 3rd Graders at Caroline
Amanda Robbins/Caroline

Step Up and Speak Out! With Vitamin L
Ross Mizrahi/Belle Sherman

Jurassic Arts: Looking at Dinosaurs through an Artistic Lens*
Allison Scott/Beverly J. Martin, South Hill, Cayuga Heights

Transforming the Cafeteria into a Teaching & Learning Space
Anna Kucher with Jodie Binns/LACS

Ithaca High School Art Department Flat Screen Display
Gina Cacioppo/Ithaca High

10th Grade Combined SS/ELA Trip to NYC
Jevon Ballard/Ithaca High

Play pods
Susan Sandritter/Caroline

Creating a Climate of Achievement
Christina Steiner/Enfield

Books+ to Engage, Educate, Empower
Leslie Kurzweil/Ithaca High

Karen Refugee Dance Workshop and Cultural Exchange
Michelle Kirchgraber-Newton/Ithaca High and DeWitt

Inventions, Contraptions and Gadgets: A Fifth Grade – Kindergarten Buddy Project
Lita Remsen/South Hill

Musical Concept Sculpture: Creating an Educational and Artistic Hanging Sculpture
Buddie Woodridge/DeWitt

Exploring The Secrets of Vesuvius by Sara C. Bisel
Virginia Caum Lake/DeWitt

Luminescence: Kiln-Formed Glass Artworks
Jackie Richardson/Ithaca High

* Designated in memory of Charles W. (Chuck) Brodhead, IPEI founding board member.

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