On August 6th Immanuel Lutheran School received news that it was being awarded a grant for $44,745 from the Morgridge Family Foundation. The grant will be used to purchase Smartboards, document cameras, wireless mobile slates, speakers, and student response systems. In addition to the cash provided to purchase hardware, the grant will pay for two years of professional development for our teaching staff. The value of this training is estimated at over $2000 per teacher. The equipment will be purchased, installed, and expenditures reported by the end of October.

John and Carrie Morgridge live in Denver and manage the family's 21st century Classroom Collaboration Grants project. John is the son of John and Tashia Morgridge of California, and John Sr. is the former CEO of Cisco Systems. The Morgridge Family Foundation granted $1.7M to Colorado schools for interactive white boards, accessories, and professional development. John and Carrie intend to visit every grant recipient during the school year. We can't wait to show them what we are doing at ILS and how their donation will help us.

In the past 18 months, the ILS school board and staff have dedicated themselves to increasing the engagement and learning skills of our students by utilizing technology. Schools have seen standardized test scores increase when technology is actively used in the class room. Students with difficulties in the classroom have been able to make significant progress when technology is employed to assist the learning process. And with technology as an integral part of our curriculum, we will be able to better prepare our students with 21st century learning skills, including collaboration, communication, distance learning, utilizing technology effectively, critical thinking, and so on.

Gifts made by Immanuel families and friends made it possible to purchase Smart Boards for 11 classrooms in the last 10 months. God laid the Morgridge grant opportunity before us at just the right time. Now we’re able to give all our teachers the tools and training to enhance the learning environment for our students in the classroom.

Our thanks to Jane Muhlenbruch-Yee, Dan Yee, and Principal L'Heureux for initiating, developing, and delivering the grant proposal.

As always, God's hand was obviously at work throughout this whole process. He has shown us again how he can so abundantly provide for His people and His work!