DAR chapter awards grant to Pablo Elementary School
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Pablo Elementary School Principal Ryan Fisher, Librarian Gay Speckert and Kuilix Chapter DAR member Sharon Adamson
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News from Daughters of the American Revolution
PABLO — Kuilix Chapter Daughters of the American Revolution awarded a $500 grant from the DAR’s Helen Pouch Memorial Fund Classroom Grant program to Pablo Elementary School Librarian Gay Speckert for the 2022-2023 school year. Pablo Elementary is a part of the Ronan School District.
Ms. Speckert’s application requested funds for purchasing new chapter books for the elementary school students. “The average age of the chapter/fiction books in the Pablo Elementary School library is 26 years,” Ms. Speckert noted. “Our readers need high interest books to improve their reading skills. With Covid, remote learning, and the learning loss during this time, kids are behind.” She added that updated library books could help start a new cycle of engaged readers who establish good reading habits that will carry them through life.
Ms. Speckert believes that student choice will encourage high interest and therefore increased learning, so she plans on taking suggestions from second, third, and fourth graders who have more library experience, as well as from her own research. Three different series from those suggestions will be previewed during the fall semester and then books will be purchased. “It will be fun and rewarding for everyone involved! We look forward to seeing what the students select,” Ms. Speckert stated.
Pablo Elementary School Principal Ryan Fisher was on hand to see Ms. Speckert receive her check. “Unfortunately, school budgets do not cover everything that is needed at the school, especially in the library,” Mr. Fisher remarked, “and we are very pleased to get help from the Daughters of the American Revolution.”
The Helen Pouch Memorial Fund finances DAR projects chosen by the Junior Membership Committee and includes the Junior Membership Classroom Grants Program. Two $500 grants are available for each state and the District of Columbia, and come from applications received by the State Junior Membership Committee. Each DAR chapter selects a winner and forwards that application to the State committee. The state’s two winners are selected at the state level to receive the $500 grants. Applicants must be a classroom teacher for grades kindergarten through 12th grade, must be endorsed by a local DAR chapter, and complete the grant award application.
DAR is a non-profit, non-partisan professional organization of chapters in all 50 states, its territories, and 13 other countries dedicated to historic preservation, education and patriotism for all women who love America and the principles of liberty and equal opportunity for all.
