A Poplar Bluff Junior High faculty member has been awarded a $500 grant from the Missouri Retired Teachers Foundation to create a puppet theater and purchase a digital camera for her drama elective.
Hilary Taylor was selected among nine grant recipients in Region 12 of the Missouri Retired Teachers Association out of 112 successful proposals throughout the state, plus 10 awarded to school support staff.
“This project will allow students to interpret literature through various dramatic representations,” Taylor wrote in her grant proposal entitled ‘Literature Through Drama.’ “Through these experiences students will increase their editing, peer review and comprehension skills.”
This is the fifth consecutive year that an R-I educator was among those regionally who submitted successful grants, bringing the running total for the school district to $4,500 from the nonprofit. Since 2017, Taylor has been selected as a winner on two previous occasions – to enhance her robotics and honors English classes, respectively.
The MRTF is the fundraising arm of the association, made up of retired educators whose purpose is to promote the professional, social and economic welfare of all retired school employees, according to its website.
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Cutline: (Left to right) Dr. Scott Dill, R-I superintendent; Mark Cook, MRTA Region 12 vice president; Hilary Taylor, Junior High teacher; Candace Warren, Junior High principal; Linda Surber, Butler County unit president; and Arleta Godwin, MRTA president.