Grants help school purchase mats, cameras

Students at the Evangelical Christian School are getting a boost in their educations.

The school in south Fort Myers recently were awarded two grants that are allowing students to take their classroom lessons into the real world.

Students received two $500 grants from the ExxonMobil Education Alliance Program and Publix Charities, which both focus on helping local schools with supplies or other endeavors.

“Everything that we are doing and every grant we received will be used for teaching the children a skill they can use later in life,” said Lisa Spearman, the director of development at the school.

Spearman wrote a letter to Publix Charities explaining the schools need for a grant to purchase two digital cameras for the schools newsletter and other events.

“We have a growing wish list online and in the letter, I talked to them about it and said that we have significant needs at the school,” Spearman said adding that Publix was quick to respond. “We were able to purchase two cameras and the children are using this stuff so we are teaching them how to use the photography in conjunction with the newsletter.”

The ECS newsletter is a quarterly, 8 page spread that is mailed to parents, grandparents and school alumni.

“The cameras are a big help because we used to use the cameras of the students that worked with me on the newsletter,” said Denise Swafford, the technology coordinator, who oversees the newsletter and the journalism students who work on it. “Now, we can get the quality pictures that we need and it’s 8.1 megapixels and has 15 times the zoom!”

The $500 grant from the ExxonMobil program was used to purchase circle time mats for the K4 program students.

“They had some mats but this gets them two thirds of the way to what they need,” Swafford said about the mats that are being used for story time, game time and bible lessons. “This gives them a place for children to gather indoors and they are not just on the carpet but have a special place to sit.”