FEF Awards 31 Project Grants for the 2025-2026 School Year

The Falmouth Education Foundation (FEF) has awarded $104,471 in grants across all grade levels and subject areas. These grants will directly support innovative projects and programs that enhance learning, spark curiosity and provide students with meaningful, hands-on opportunities they might not otherwise have.

MULTI-SCHOOL CONTINUING PROJECTS

VIPS BeBOLD Program Encourages Confidence, Curiosity, Leadership, and Connection

Tracey Crago

Liaison: Jane Levine

Through facilitated group mentoring and guest speakers, BeBOLD encourages 4th grade girls to become more confident, and to empathize and connect with other girls. This year the program will extend to two more elementary schools.

EAST FALMOUTH ELEMENTARY SCHOOL NEW PROJECTS

The Imagination Invitation: Author Visit at East Falmouth Elementary School Tara Draper

Liaison: Phil Alatalo

This project brings Caldecott Honor author and illustrator, Christopher Denise, to East Falmouth to make three presentations to the Pre-K through 4th grade students. The grant also provides funds for books related to the author’s visit.

Everyday Speech: Social Emotional Learning

Lindsay Marble

Liaison: Phil Alatalo

This grant supports a social-emotional curriculum at East Falmouth for grades Pre-K through 4th grade that has proven to be effective in fostering a supportive learning environment.

EAST FALMOUTH ELEMENTARY CONTINUING PROJECT

Making It Up: Expanding Our Library Makerspace

Tara Draper

Liaison: Phil Alatalo

This continuing project increases the number of LEGO manipulatives to expand what each class, Pre-K through 4th, can create, build, and problem-solve in a collaborative approach to learning.

MULLEN HALL ELEMENTARY NEW PROJECTS

Meet the Author

Elizabeth Do

Liaison: Beth Dussán

The project brings an author ro Mullen Hall to do multiple presentations to each K-4th grade class. The grant also provides funds for books related to the author’s visit.

Extreme Forecasting

Elizabeth Do

Liaison: Beth Dussan

Each 3rd grade student at Mullen Hall will research a type of extreme weather, generate a weather forecast strip, and present a final video production (complete with costumes). The grant will also pay for updated non-fiction books about extreme weather.

Folk Dancing Extravaganza

Teresa Jazo

Liaison: Lynette Robinson

This grant allows elementary students to learn, with live musicians, the elements and culture of folk dancing.

NORTH FALMOUTH ELEMENTARY NEW PROJECT

North Falmouth Elementary First Lego League Challenge

Michael Irving

Liaison: Lynette Robinson

North Falmouth will start their own Robotics Club to introduce students to the basic skills of robotics and engage students in STEM exploration.

NORTH FALMOUTH ELEMENTARY CONTINUING PROJECTS

Authors Come Alive

Kristin Bergeron

Liaison: Jane Levine

This project allows North Falmouth, in collaboration with Eight Cousins bookstore, to bring visiting authors to North Falmouth students. The grant also provides funds for books related to the author’s visit.

SEL Practices in the Music Room (and Beyond)

Korey Charles

Liaison: Ellen Barol

This grant is for a renewal of the digital site license for the socio-emotional training program: Conscious Discipline Training. The “beyond” part, is that the E-course can accommodate more teachers, to expand this successful program beyond the music room. The grant also pays for accompanying materials.

MORSE POND NEW PROJECTS

Sailing into the Future: Innovating the Morse Pond School Library for our Clippers

Elizabeth Abbott

Liaison: Sally Hauck

This project focuses on reinventing the library to motivate students to embark on their own learning journey, through dedicated areas for thematic books, technology integration, and collaborative learning.

Library Beyond Limits: VR for Student Success

Elizabeth Abbott

Liaison: Sally Hauck

Virtual Reality offers an innovative approach to learning, providing access to three hundred sixty degree experiences, enabling students to explore complex concepts, historical events, scientific phenomena and more in a new way. This grant pays for a set of 8 Virtual Reality headsets and accompanying materials.

Hands-On Escape-Room

Katrina Harris

Liaison: Beth Dussan

Katrina will purchase 6 Lock-Box sets to enhance students’ learning across all subject areas. The materials will allow teachers to design interactive, hands-on tasks that challenge students to work collaboratively to solve the puzzle that unlocks each box.

Submerged LEGO Robotics

Stacey Strong

Liaison: Phil Alatalo

This grant supports the beginning of a Submerged LEGO Robotics Club at Morse Pond. Students will program the robots to complete challenges that represent actual oceanographic challenges.

LAWRENCE NEW PROJECT

Carving up with the Times: CNC Routers for our Class and Community

Bob Porto

Liaison: Sally Hauck

A CNC Router is a computer-controlled machine that precisely cuts, carves, and shapes various material. The grant pays for a new router and parts to be used for community collaborations.

LAWRENCE CONTINUING PROJECTS

Lawrence School Music Technology and Music Production Project

Eileen Cahill

Liaison: Phil Alatalo

This project will replace 3 iMac computers used for the understanding, learning, and composing of music using digital technology.

Companion Texts (Expansion Pack)

Lisbeth Liles

Liaison: Ellen Barol

For each core text that students read in Lawrence English classes, they can choose a modern text that connects thematically . This grant pays for additional copies of the most popular companion texts to provide more options for matching students’ interests.

Engineers as Engineers: Railcar Rally Part Three

Bob Porto

Liaison: Sally Hauck

In this continuing project students construct functional trolley cars, conduct a race, and ride on an actual train through Cape Cod. A new addition this year will be students role-playing historical figures.

Rwandan Survivor Legacy Visit

Donald Valentine

Liaison: Gloria Borgese

Claude Kayitare, a Rwandan genocide survivor, tells his story of trauma and survival.

Ugly Mugs

Tiffany Van Mooy

Liaison: Gloria Borgese

The 7th grade students will make and design functional clay mugs inspired by early artwork of African slaves.

FALMOUTH HIGH SCHOOL NEW PROJECTS

The Shot Heard Round Surf Drive

Jane Baker

Liaison: Jane Levine

Students will learn about and create art based on Falmouth’s role in the Revolutionary War

From Skulls to Science: Enhancing Anatomy Education with Authentic Specimens

Kelly Garrett

Liaison: Ellen Barol

This project seeks to use real animal skulls in the classroom to better understand comparative anatomy and foster a deeper connection to science.

Cooking Up Chemistry: Engaging Minds Through Food-based Science

Kelly Garrett

Liaison: Ellen Barol

Cooking Up Chemistry uses food to bring chemistry concepts to life. Students will explore chemical reactions, polarity, and stoichiometry, through activities such as making pancakes, caramelizing butter, and creating rock candy.

Field Trip: Macbeth Performance by The Actors Shakespeare Project

Erin Griffin

Liaison: Lynette Robinson

Erin hopes to enrich the experience of her students who read and perform Macbeth by exposing them to live theater, and

discussing the effectiveness of adaptation and directorial choices. Grant pays for transportation and tickets.

FALMOUTH HIGH SCHOOL CONTINUING PROJECTS

Sip It! FHS Ceramics Mug Sale

Corine Adams

Liaison: Sally Hauck

This grant pays for two visiting ceramic artists to teach

students new techniques to create their mugs. The grant also pays for a new computer and updated software for the 3D

printer to enhance this and future projects.

Cultivating Well-Being Through Green Spaces

Rupert Gordon

Liaison: Gloria Borgese

The goal of this project is to provide the mental health benefits from having live plants indoors, while teaching students to care for them.

Ekphrasis 2.0

Lauren Kenny

Liaison: Jane Levine

This continuing grant provides FHS students with enriching experiences in the arts, encompassing visual,

performing, and literary disciplines. This grant pays for the bus to Boston, museum tickets, and tickets for a

live performance of Hamilton.

New England FIRST Robotics Competition Team (Regal Seagulls) Year 2

Carmela Mayeski

Liaison: Denise MacKerron

In the first year of this grant, students built a functional industrial-sized robot and competed well enough to earn their way to the New England District Championships. Grant pays for the new starter kit and registration fee.

Marine Ecology and Engineering Field Trip

Cheryl Milliken

Liaison: Beth Dussán

This project takes students to visit WHOI (Quissett Campus), to meet scientists, conduct a beach cleanup, collect marine specimens, and visit the herring run along the Coonamessett River. Grant pays for bus transportation.

Experiential Literary Adaptations

Danielle Phipps

Liaison: Gloria Borgese

This project fosters engagement with and critical thinking about literary adaptations. Grant pays for a bus and theater

tickets to see an August Wilson play.

Spanish Cooking Demonstration and Class

Katie Stanton

Liaison: Beth Dussán

The students will attend a demonstration class on traditional Colombian cooking by a professional chef. Students learn to understand and use the vocabulary, experience traditional Colombian cuisine, and grow in proficiency in the new language. They prepare, cook, and eat the results!