DI teacher awarded $12,000 grant for Military Magnet classroom

Daniel Island resident Stephen Jones, a seventh grade English Language Arts teacher at Military Magnet Academy, was recently selected to receive a $12,000 grant from the Intertech Group Foundation to be used to expand digital learning in his classroom.

The foundation’s website reads, “The InterTech Group Foundation concentrates on giving back in areas that can enhance the human experience including education, health and human needs, the environment and the arts.”

Upon Jones’ request, the grant supplied a set of 30 new Chromebooks and a charging dock for his students to utilize when they are in the classroom.

Jones explained that he was invited to participate in the grant process by the foundation.

“I was invited to apply because the group got word of what the situation was at Military Magnet Academy,” said Jones. “I had to lay out a case study for what types of resources were needed in the classroom that weren’t being provided. It took (a) long time to gather all the requested materials up, which included financials from the school district and information specific to the school, which is a Title 1 school. I submitted that and it went through a review process.”

A representative from the Intertech Group Foundation then attended a site visit and spoke with Jones about what materials were needed, he added.

“They made their award at the end of the school year,” said Jones. “It took four or five months for the whole process from start to finish.”

His reaction, he exclaimed, was “complete amazement.”

“I was granted exactly what I requested,” said Jones. “The impact of this is going to be felt, not just in the upcoming semester, but for many years to come…They can do their own research. They can do assignments in real time. They’re not going to lose papers. I’m not going to lose papers. They’re going to be able to collaborate a lot more in real time on more projects.”

With the addition of the Chromebooks, a new mindset will have to be adapted, explained Jones.

“This is going to be a new experience for both of us,” he said. “It’s a culture change about getting them used to working on computers more often than not. We had some of the old-school desktop computers in the classroom but they’d take an hour to boot up. Now, we’re going to have the latest and greatest technology in the school and without this grant, they would not have had this wonderful opportunity.”

On top of the grant, Jones added that his wife, Heather, has also been actively collecting donations from the Daniel Island community to support his classroom.

“The community has been very generous with dropping off gently used school supplies,” he said. “So now, in addition to the computers that we have in the class, there have been a ton of books that have been donated. There have been poster board papers that have been donated. School supplies and things that, again, some schools take for granted, my kids simply don’t have access to and do not take it for granted. I’m very grateful for all of those gifts. We will put them to good use.”

Before becoming a teacher, Jones worked with a government contractor for 10 years.

“I left this last semester because I wanted to do something that would, like all teachers seem to say, kind of make a difference in people’s lives,” said Jones. “The timing just seemed right last fall for me to start pursuing other options in area schools and Military Magnet Academy looked like a good fit.”

For more information about the Intertech Group Foundation, visit http://theintertechgroup.com/giving-back/.