It only takes a quick skim of our current recipients to see the ideas brought to life by the donors to the FPEF endowment.
Grant requests are made by those who have identified a specific and compelling educational opportunity that only needs funding for implementation.
2019 Pendergraft Grant Awards
Award Amount: $10,000
The Purple Pride Band Trailer will serve 235 students in the Fayetteville High School Marching Band. The customized trailer will meet the needs of the growing band program, by transporting musical instruments and equipment to marching contests across the country and away football games.
Award Amount: $ 12,675
Globetrotting: Building Student Background Knowledge will serve all 950 students at Owl Creek, this year alone. This project will provide students with a Google Expeditions kit giving them the opportunity for virtual expeditions to travel to distant places and incorporate hands-on experiences in this rapidly growing technological world. 68% of Owl Creek students are from low income backgrounds and rarely have been given the experience of traveling outside their own neighborhoods, so by taking the students outside of the classroom walls, Owl Creek teachers will be able to help close the achievement gap of both their culturally and financially diverse populations.
2019 Standard Grant Awards
Amount Awarded: $2,827.50
The Classroom Library Enhancement for Native and Heritage Spanish Speakers project will serve 70+ students in grades 9-12 in the upcoming school year at FHS. The project will create a series of classroom libraries to support independent reading goals in Spanish for heritage and native speaker classrooms to improve fluency and literacy in students’ native language.
Amount Awarded: $1,430
FRIENDS: Fluency & Reading in Elementaries Nurturing Diversity and Success will serve 350+ students in grades K-2 at several elementary schools across the district as well as 20 9th-11th graders at FHS. The program will provide a multitude of opportunities for developing friendships with role models, building literacy, and read-alouds with children’s books about diversity, tolerance, and acceptance. The goal is to encourage and motivate young readers and instill confidence
Award Amount: $2,690.59
Sizziling Series Additions will serve 386 Kindergarten to fourth grade students as Asbell Elementary. The project will provide new library books and missing books from popular series, with the intent on encouraging both students who are not motivated to read on their own and those who may read below their grade level.
Award Amount: $4,244.58
The Illuminating the Light Bulb Lab project will serve 542 students grades K-4 at Butterfield Trial Elementary School. The lab will provide all students the opportunity to access hands-on STEAM resources weekly through high quality and engaging lessons designed to spark curiosity, creativity and innovation.
Award Amount: $6,000
Mallet Mania will serve 305 students in grades K-4 at Washington Elementary. The project will give all students the opportunity to plan an instrument allowing each student to have more time with the instrument and less idle time waiting for their turn. The new instruments will provide quality music experience to every student.
Award Amount: $3,500
The Kids, Check it: College and Careers project is designed to help students plan life goals, which is a district initiative. The project will serve all 8th grade students at Ramay Junior High through a field trip to the University of Arkansas to assist the building in creating a culture that identifies postgraduate educational opportunities to enhance students’ planning choices and future careers.
Award Amount: $3,290.26
The Fabric Moths: Learning to Sew and Embroider project will serve 520 in Kindergarten through 4th grade at Owl Creek School. As part of an Art and Nature unit students will get the opportunity to sew fabric moths. The students will obtain an entirely new art experience through learning how to use a sewing machine, hand-sew, embroider, and other creative fiber arts techniques.
Award Amount: $3,026.99
Q-Seums: Inspiring Questions through Artifacts is a project that will serve all 950 students at Owl Creek through lesson enrichment tools and hands-on experiences. The project encourages inquiry by providing access to physical artifacts, resources, and historical objects to inspect and handle along with quality nonfiction text.
Award Amount: $6,436.57
Roadrunner’s L.I.F.E Club (Learning Incredible Skills for Everything) will serve approximately 159 students in the 3rd and 4th grade at Asbell Elementary. The project will provide unique and engaging life opportunities through clubs that they would not otherwise receive. There will be seven clubs implemented that the students will rotate thorough according to their interests - cooking, economics, sewing, building engineering, blogging/yearbook, culture, and community service.
Award Amount: $7,409
Vital Signs: A Technological Approach to Looking Inside the Body will serve 100 Anatomy and Physiology students from 10th-12th grade at Fayetteville High School. The project will provide vocational students entering the health care field or students planning to major in medical-related fields, with equipment which allows them to measure and analyze physiological variables to determine human body health.
Award Amount: $5,000
The Breakfast Club After-School Arts Integration serves 70 students grades 7th and 8th through after-school direct instruction and 630 students through presentations and performances. The program includes diverse activities led by certified professionals that teach skills for life, school, and work to at-risk and under-served students through integration of drama, visual art, and technical art.
Award Amount: $4,500
Science in the Ozarks is designed to serve 882 5th grade students from Holt, McNair, and Owl Creek Middle Schools. Based at The Ozark Natural Science Center, students participate in 12 hours of hands-on, inquiry-based, environmental science classes. Using observation, scientific method, and experimentation, students are able to apply and model natural science data and to better understand the ecological systems and natural history of the Ozark ecoregion.
Award Amount: $2,232.56
Getting Kids Outside Through English Curriculum and Experiential Learning program will serve over 90 students in grades 9-12 at ALLPS School of Innovation. The program will give students the opportunity to experience the outdoors by providing necessary materials such as tents, sleeping bags, and backpacks while connecting the experience to their classroom work on a supervised, guided overnight trip. The materials will also be made available to students to use outside of school.
Award Amount: $4,000
Carrots, Not Sticks will serve 300 students at several schools across the Fayetteville district. The project will focus on student achievement through providing at-risk students with resources to incentivize and reinforce behavior improvements, which will reduce suspension rates, preserve instructional time for all students and teachers, and improve graduation rates.
Award Amounts: $2,200
Owl Creek Presents “Aladdin KIDS” will serve 990 students in grades PreK-6th at Owl Creek School. The project will provide 6th grade students the opportunity to perform a professional musical theatre production for the other students in their school as well as the community, helping to establish a performance culture and arts enrichment program.
Award Amount: $2,100
The Pottery Wheel at Woodland will serve 360 students in 7th and 8th grade at Woodland Jr. High. The project will enhance the quality of art instruction and experience by providing the opportunity for students to become familiar with a pottery wheel, who wouldn’t otherwise have the opportunity, especially at risk, SPED, and lower income.
Award Amount: $3,225
Learning to Love: Teaching Social Emotional Learning in the Classroom will serve 360 students in grades K-4 at Washington Elementary. The project will provide social emotional learning picture books for daily lessons provided by classroom teachers. Having these read aloud resources for teachers will allow them to provide essential, engaging lessons.
Award Amount: $1,997.36
The STEM & Coding Cart will serve around 200 students in the 3rd and 4th grade at Happy Hollow Elementary School. The project will provide all students, not simply the gifted and talented students, the opportunity to engage in innovative coding and STEM activities. Students will gain skills for computer programming and the confidence to be creative.
Award Amount: $2,500
Binoculars are for the Birds will serve 110 gifted and talented second graders at all nine elementary schools in the Fayetteville district, and will continue on for years to come. The project provides child-sized binoculars and scopes for the students to identify birds in natural settings, supporting their goal to identify 50 local species.
Award Amount: $3,540
Anne & Jack Butt Fund
The Asbell Mobile Library will serve 200 students from preschoolers to 4th grade living in highly populated areas within the Asbell attendance zone. Staff members will travel and provide quality reading materials at home during the summer to help close the reading achievement gap and decrease the summer learning slide.
Award Amount: $2,624
Terryl & Shannon Ortego Fund & Paula Weaver Fund
The Self-Portraits: Symbols and Heritage project will serve 480 students in Kindergarten through 4th grade at Owl Creek School. Students will create expressive and meaningful self-portraits after studying famous portraits, learning about symbols in art, and researching symbols of their own heritage. It will allow students to make art they connect with deeply, and will help Owl Creek celebrate diversity.
Award Amount: $3,510
Gable Sloan Academic Enrichment for Vulnerable Students
The Creative Cats Summertime Scientists project will serve 45 k-4 students from Washington Elementary. The project will provide engaging and enriching summer field trips with a science focus for students who would not otherwise have these experiences due to financial, transportation, language or living situation barriers. This will encourage learning outside of the classroom and increase their excitement for school.
Award Amount: $1,338
Tamara & Johnny Roberts Family
The Let's be Social Project will serve approximately 100 students in grade k-4 at Washington Elementary. The project will provide a social-emotional curriculum for students in a small group setting who have identified deficits in the area of social and emotional awareness.
Award Amount: $2,500
Agee Family Fund in honor of Martha Agee
The ALLPS Library will serve 225 students in grades 9th through 12th at the ALLPS School of Innovation. The project will allow for the purchase of books other than academic texts, fiction or non-fiction, to establish an on-campus library for the ALLPS students, which in turn will promote and encourage reading for pleasure and provide alternative resources for class projects.
Award Amount: $3,000
Treva & Howard Hamilton
The Robotics Refresh project will serve 300 students in 7th and 8th grade at Ramay Junior High. The project will provide students with new VEX robotics electronic systems to be used in both the classroom setting as well as in our competitions teams which will help all students be successful in robotics and allow them to step outside their comfort zone and excel.
Award Amount: $498
Class of 1956 Taylor-Lackey
The Multicultural Learning through Literature Discussion project will serve 415 fifth graders at McNair Middle School. The project will be inclusive to all students by providing texts with multiple reading levels that focus on a multicultural topic, encouraging students to have discussions on multicultural diversity.
Award Amount: $1,013.19
Marie & Clark McClinton
Marvelous Mustang Makers- Makerspaces for Students with Special Needs will serve 18 of our special education students in addition to all 5th and 6th grade students at McNair Middle School. This project would add items to our Makerspace that will positively impact the learning experiences of our students with special needs.
Award Amount: $8,437.75
Bobby New & Betty Lighton
The Hear Ye! See Ye! AudioVisual for MWMLIbrary & Patrons project aims to provide audiovisual support for nearly 2,700 students and up to 200 staff members at Fayetteville High school events. This project will provide an on-site dedicated A/V set-up for our FHS community use, as well as enrich the Library Service.
Award Amount: $1,579
Mike Brunner
Integrating a Therapy Dog in an Alternative Learning Environment project will serve 190 students in grades 9th through 12th at ALLPS. The program will allow students to interact with a trained therapy dog on a daily basis to ease anxiety, as well as other mental health issues, and promote social-emotional learning.
Award Amount: $9,999.99
Marty Thurlby Deweese Study Abroad Fund & First Federal Bank
Go Global Virtually will serve 600+ students at Holcomb Elementary. The Google Expedition Kit will provide unique experiences and enriching opportunities to engage learners across multiple disciplines. Virtual field trips will help close the gap for Holcomb’s underprivileged by making content relevant, therefore, supporting learning in math, science, and ELA.
Award Amount: $3,207.80
E. J. Ball Economic Fund & Jackie New
This project, Engaging All Students Through Clubs! serves 648 students in 7th and 8th grade at Ramay Junior High School. The funding will decrease the opportunity and equity gap by allowing every student to be involved in an extra curricular club that may not have had the ability prior due to economic restraints, lack of transportation, or simply a lack of awareness. The clubs provide social-emotional support, grant the space students need to build relationships with adults and peers, strengthen school community, and allows for the cultivation of new skill sets which in all would increase student achievement.
Award Amount: $1,250
Warren Rosenaur Theatre Fund
Acting for the Theater-Improvisation will serve upwards of 50 advanced theater students at Fayetteville High School by using improvisation. They will write and perform plays created from long and short-form storytelling. Students will develop listening, performing and thinking skills.
Award Amount: $1,250
Barbara Prichard Gifted & Talented Fund
The project, Remembering the Great War: Bringing the Past to Life, will serve 240 students in the 5th and 6th grades at all three Fayetteville middle schools. The project will provide students the opportunity to visit the National World War I Museum in Kansas City. Students will gain a better understanding of the sacrifices made by their ancestors who lived during the early part of the 20th century.
Award Amount: $2,000
Pendergraft Technology Fund
Personalize It will serve over 500 students in Pre-K through 4th grade at Happy Hollow Elementary School. This interactive eBook project will not only provide support for all struggling readers but allow all students to customize their learning through personalized learning experiences driven by student interest and motivation.
Award Amount: $ 2,400
Josephine S. Clark
The Microscopes for 21st Century Science Labs will serve 350-400 students in the 7th grade at Woodland Junior High School. The 3-D imaging microscopes in this grant will allow students to see microscopic organisms up close and personal thus permitting deeper understanding and enabling critical thinking skills.
Award Amount: $2,687.61
Matthew William Moore Memorial
The Choral Recording Project will serve 600 students in the Fayetteville choir program in 7th-12th grades at Ramay, Woodland, and Fayetteville High School. This project will provide equipment used to record all choir concerts throughout the year, enabling students and teachers to assess performances and tailor future instruction to each ensemble.
Award Amount: $5,000
Candy & Teddy Clarkwell
The Leverett Library: The Heart of our Reading/Learning Community, will serve 300 students in grades kindergarten through 4th grade at Leverett Elementary School. This project will create an environment that supports the development of curious, caring and creative learners and readers enabling them to develop their own reading/learning lives.
Award Amount: $1,800
The Bank of Fayetteville in Honor of John Lewis
Coding Robots for Kids will serve at least 160 students in 3rd and 4th grade at Root Elementary School. The project will purchase 24 voice activating coding robots that will be used in various subjects, activities, and projects. They will provide students with the necessary coding skills to help them prepare for middle, junior, and high school while also helping to develop their critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
Award Amount: $2,500
Malcolm & Ellen Hayward
The Fayetteville Steel Pan Band will serve 30 percussion students in grades 8-12 at Ramay, Woodland, and Fayetteville High School. The project will provide students with the opportunity to explore Caribbean music and culture, while enabling them to use these skill sets and knowledge in college and beyond.
Award Amount: $2,449.65
The Spark Foundation
The Balance Bikes for Holcomb project will serve 406 kindergartners, 1st graders, and 2nd graders. The project will give students the opportunity to develop the balance and safety skills necessary in order to ride a bike so that they can begin enjoying the many benefits of biking early.
Award Amount: $1,000
Blake Croxdale Memorial & Katy B Stout
Ready to Read (By Myself) will serve 628 students at Vandergriff, but with an Interlibrary Loan, it will actually serve the whole district. These books are a bridge between picture books and regular chapter books as they include short chapters, lower reading levels, and illustrations. By using beginning chapter books our newly independent readers will be encouraged and inspired for reading success
Award Amount: $2,500
Becky Knight Memorial
The C.A.L.M. (Creating Active Learning through Motion ) Path Project will serve up to 300 students in Kindergarten through fourth grade, at Washington Elementary each year by providing the first ever eighty foot, sensory walkway and a therapeutic swing for students. Through specific movement, they can give their body and minds a "break", and get the sensory input and kinesthetic learning experience they need to be successful in the classroom.
Award Amount: $1,000
Walton Family Foundation
Carrots, Not Sticks will serve 20-40 students in 5th and 6th grade at Holt Middle School by continuing the Holt’s RtI-B program. This grant addresses a lack of funding for effective interventions to help at-risk students improve behavior by providing at-risk students with research-based incentives to facilitate measurable improvements in school behavior, reduce disciplinary referrals, and preserve instructional time for all students and teachers.
Award Amount: $1,100
Clyde & Robbie Selle & Class of 1952
The Stewards in Sustainability project will serve 625 PreK-4th grade students at Holcomb Elementary School. This project will teach students sustainability practices through a variety of environmental science concepts such as recycling, gardening, and composting which will promote life-long skills and knowledge about sustaining the environment.
Amount Awarded: $2,500
R. W. Willis & Simkins Family
This New Music for Marching Band project will serve 200 members in the Fayetteville High School Marching Band ranging from 9th to 12th graders. The project will provide original music to be performed as part of the 2019 competitive marching show and possibly in future shows as well.
Award Amount: $2,500
James T. Whitehead Memorial
Connotations, the FHS literary magazine, will serve all 2500 students from 9th to 12th grade at Fayetteville High School. The project will produce 150 copies of a high-quality literary magazine filled with student work in art, photo, prose, and poetry, allowing each high school student a creative outlet.
Award Amount: $2,000
Upchurch Electric
Woodland’s Robotics Safety and Transport Systems project will provide all 100+ Robotics students from 7th and 8th grade at Woodland Junior High School the appropriate equipment needed to safely transport their robots across the state and country as they attend events on a local, state, and international level. Students work hard to design, build, and program robots for participation so the goal is to keep students robots intact, and to increase the longevity of their equipment.