Whittier High School awarded Hispanic education grant

Whittier High School has been awarded a $1,000 grant to promote education to the Hispanic community for the second year in a row.

Kim Graves, Whittier High School director of community service, announced the recent award at the Sedalia School District 200 Board of Education meeting Monday night.

The grant was awarded through the State Farm “Para mi” grant program. The Spanish phrase “para mi” translates to “for me” and is part of the State Farm es Para Mi education outreach campaign. According to statefarm.com, the campaign, which was launched in July 2008, is in collaboration with many community partners and its focus is primarily on citizenship, voter registration and education.

“State Farm has been committed to educational partnerships for more than two decades because we believe all children deserve a quality education that prepares them to compete in a global work force,” State Farm Public Affairs Supervisor Tamara O’Connor said.

As part of the education outreach component, State Farm awarded 71 grants nationally to schools and nonprofit organizations based on how those groups work to close the academic achievement gap and encourage students to stay in school and receive their high school diplomas.

For the 2008 grant application, students at Whittier High School pitched an idea to assemble educational bags for English-language students to take home. Graves said the bags, which were donated by State Farm, were filled with flash cards and an English/Spanish picture dictionary. Once the school received the $1,000 in grant funds, they put together 25 $40 bags.

“The flash card units are game-based and tutorial,” Graves said.

The bags are numbered and available for overnight check-out through the Whittier office. Graves said the bags are useful for bilingual students and parents.

Wade Norton, principal of Heber Hunt Elementary where many English as a second language students are educated, said the bags have proven to be beneficial to his students.

“It is great to have this connection with Whittier,” Norton said.

After achieving success with the grant in 2008, Graves and his students decided to pursue the grant again in 2009. Graves said the goal for the latest grant was to inspire Hispanic parents to keep their children in school because there are a high number of high school drop-outs at age 16 in the Hispanic community.

The students decided to establish a parent network.

“We want to create a situation that brings information in a culturally appropriate manner,” Graves said.

In addition to the grants provided to Whittier High School in a competitive process, local State Farm agent Margaret Bowles also has pledged to provide free portraits to Whittier High School seniors who have 200 hours of community service.