TAHOE/TRUCKEE, Calif. – The Tahoe Truckee Excellence in Education Foundation has awarded more than $112,000 in grants to teachers and classrooms in the Tahoe Truckee Unified School District (TTUSD) through its fall 2012 grant cycle. TTUSD trustees received and approved the funds at their regular board meeting last month.

During this grant cycle, the Foundation received 78 grant requests and was pleased to award funds to 57 applicants. Many grants provided for classroom enhancements including reading and language software, band instruments, LEGO Robotics, science equipment, art supplies and materials for Spanish language enrichment classes.

In addition, Excellence in Education funded Naviance, a web-based software and data management program for the district high schools. Naviance provides students and families with college informational resources, scholarship and career inventories, course planners, and college application submissions. It also gives district administration and counselors data to help direct student decisions. According to Jeff Ream, North Tahoe High counselor and Naviance grantee, “Naviance is a revolutionary, multi-faceted tool that will lead the district counseling programs into the 21st century.”

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Each grant cycle, Excellence in Education receives grant submissions that they are, unfortunately, unable to fund. While all grant requests have merit, some fall outside of the foundation’s criteria. In some cases, Excellence in Education has approached outside partners to help facilitate funding. One such grant this year was submitted by North Tahoe School and North Tahoe High School; as a result, the North Tahoe Tuesday Morning Breakfast Club stepped forward and funded $3,800 for replacement lights and stage enhancements for the school theater.

Truckee Tahoe Airport District officials partnered with Excellence in Education a few years ago to help further educational opportunities relating to science and aviation. For the second year, the Airport District is funding $500 per fifth grade class for a field trip to the Challenger Space Simulation at the Discovery Museum in Sacramento. This continued partnership gives all TTUSD fifth graders exposure to a unique experience involving high-level problem solving, teamwork and hands-on aviation training.

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“We’re excited about this continued partnership,” said Donna Morgan, allocations chair of Excellence in Education. “Through relationships like these, we can continue to expand possibilities for learning and growth. We are grateful to the Truckee Tahoe Airport District for offering this wonderful learning opportunity to our local kids.”

Grant money is raised by the Excellence in Education Foundation throughout the year through programs like Dining, Skiing and Golfing for Schools, and the Martis Camp Home Tour. The community’s support of these programs has a direct connection to the classroom via the grants made by the foundation.

In addition to the $112,971 awarded for fall grants, Excellence in Education has funded $34,994 for a second year of the pilot program, iLearn, which uses iPods for reading fluency and classroom application. The foundation also contributed $1,000 to the recent STEM fair and $10,000 to Aim High bringing the total money awarded by Excellence in Education to $158,965 so far this school year.

For more information about Excellence in Education call 530-550-7984 or visit http://www.ExinEd.org.