Faculty Innovation Grants, launched in 2007, is Friends of CRLS's flagship program. These grants give CRLS teachers and staff opportunities to enhance curriculum, enrich activities, augment services, and encourage innovation across a variety of programs to benefit students of diverse capacities, talents, and interests. Including the current awardees, 162 teachers and staff members have been honored with grants, each up to $1,000.

Faculty Innovation Grants proposals were requested school-wide at the end of October 2015 for a late November deadline.  In December, a 6-member review committee, composed of FoCRLS board members and active volunteers, considered numerous competitive proposals in a "blind" process of review (no identifying information about the applicant was made known).  After careful deliberation, the committee chose eleven extraordinary proposals to receive grants totaling $10,000. The grant-funded projects will be implemented during the coming spring semester, with some sustainable for many semesters to come. 

FoCRLS is thrilled to congratulate the awardees of the 2016 Faculty Innovation Grants:

Elizabeth Menges, Visual Arts Teacher — Seeing the Unseen: Portraits of Adults with Disabilities at Windsor House Adult Daycare to build inter-generational friendships while students learn skills in creating portraits and biographies. 

(Photo from Seeing the Unseen 2015 at Youville House)

Jeff Gaglione, Dean of Curriculum – Learning Community 'S' & Mathematics — Summer Math Preview Program to help students succeed in AP and Honors classes with advance preparation through a curriculum of higher level math and the development of studentship skills.

Carrie Salvato, English Teacher — Leading Students to Meaningful Literature to "provide the appropriate tools to allow for the love of reading to blossom and for reluctant readers to begin to take steps toward increasing their literacy" by making available a diverse selection of high-interest books to which students can personally relate.

Brenda Divelbliss, Dance Teacher & Director of CRLS Modern Dance Company — The Etude Project to provide the opportunity for the CRLS Modern Dance Company to host the American Dance Legacy Initiative from Brown University in learning and performing "Battleworks Etude," a challenging dance in the style of master choreographer Robert Battle.

Kathleen FitzGerald, Teacher/Internship and Service Learning Specialist — Veterans History Project  to purchase recording equipment for interviewing Vietnam veterans, building inter-generational connections, and learning history and techniques in recording, editing, and podcasting oral history.

Greta Hardina, Family Liaison — CRLS Food Pantry to "provide nutrition but also get to know [the school's] most vulnerable students and make sure they are receiving other services that may be available in the community."

Denise Lee, Math Teacher – Algebra 2 and AP Statistics — Making Math Real to "infuse the mathematics curriculum with real data and real applications.…to engage students in discovering the relationships and functions themselves [and] result in more lasting learning…."

Mawakana Onifade, High School Extension Program (HSEP) Principal — HSEP Community Building to boost student attendance and family engagement through community events planned by students.

Jacqueline Cesario, Class of 2016 Faculty Advisor — Prom Funding for Low-Income Families to help make prom an opportunity for seniors to build on traditions.

Conrad Hauck, Engineering Instructor RSTA — Funding for CRLS FIRST Robotics Team 97 to help the team collaboratively design, build, and program a 5'x4' robot to compete at the Boston Regional Tournament. 

Elizabeth Hansel, Physics Teacher — Educational Games in Physics for materials to build games to review content, practice MCAS questions, and build community in the classroom.

Faculty Innovation Grants are made possible by the generosity of our donors.  To learn more about FoCRLS's programs or to contribute online, please visit focrls.org.  Please mail gifts by check to Friends of CRLS, P.O. Box 391541, Cambridge MA 02139.