It is no secret that school districts across the country are struggling. Some have had to make budget cuts and others have had to go as far as eliminating teaching positions just to break even. Thiese budget shortfalls have led to schools searching out less conventional methods of funding. Such an example of a private fiunding opportunity is the Power a Bright Future grant competition of the Clorox company.
China Spring elementary school in China Spring, Texas located just outside of Waco is taking part in this national competition for a $50,000 grant from the makers of Clorox. This competition is entitled “Power a Bright Future” and is in its third year of existence.
The competition is separated into three distinct categories; play, create, and explore. October 17, 2011 was the last day to make nominations for the competition, and the voting phase is now active. The explore category covers education centered programs. The paly catergory includes sports and exercised focused programs. While the create division os for arts-focused prgrams. There will be a winner from each category and then one additional grant which is new to the competition this year—the judge’s choice. The judge's choise award is for a prgram which the judeges themselves and not public vote deems to be well rounded and beneficial to the whole school community. The Clorox website claims there to be 5 winners chosen in total. Voting is open to the public from now until December 9, 2011 and the winners will be announced January of 2012.
China Spring elementary is competing in the play category. The description of the proposed playground plan as seen on the Power a Bright future website is as follows:
China Spring Elementary is located in a rural farming community and consists of around 900 students, from pre-K through 3rd grade. The closest playground to our community is 20 miles away. There is currently a playground that is outdated and unsafe for the children of our school. The 2011-2012 school year is the first school year in which we have special needs' population to be able to interact with general education students, and as of now, they are unable to. Due to the pea gravel, cement and lack of walking paths, the wheelchair bound students are only able to sit and watch others play. When it is really hot outside, the children are unable to use the equipment due to the playground equipment burning them. Also, due to lack of equipment, students huddle around certain playground areas to play and with that many children in one area, bullying and fighting tend to grow.
How this Grant will Help:
A $50,000 grant would allow all student populations of our school the ability to interact and enjoy peers while playing. A new playground with a walking track would allow the special needs students the opportunity to play and have social interactions with others. A walking track would be a great asset to our physical education department, after school programs, and our community. It would also allow different uses for our classroom teachers. Math teachers could use the walking track to measure distance and science teachers could use the track to observe nature in a safe environment. Awnings that cover the equipment would eliminate children burning themselves in the hot weather. Pea gravel is great for soft falls and landing however it also gets stuck in ears and throats. Eliminating pea gravel with a rubber substance would still cushion falls, and be safe for all of our students. Multiple pieces of playground equipment would allow students to disperse and interact more freely.
Please do your part and vote to make this dream a reality. Voters need not be residents of the town, parents or students—voting is open to anyone who registers. There are 2 major ways to vote and if you participate in both you can vote twice daily.
- Simply Text Clorox5704 to 44144 once daily
- Register at powerabrightfuture.com for each active email account that you use (this could mean that you could vote even more than twice a day), sign in, search for China Spring, Texas and cast your vote online
As of today, October 30, China Spring is in second place overall—second only to a California school district—and first place in their category. Help the school to keep, if not surpass, their current ranking. For a direct link to the China Spring nominee page click HERE.
Happy Voting!!
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