Grants

Each year, AEF raises money from the Amherst community to support strategic initiatives in our schools.
The 2025-2026 Excellence Grant Awards will be announced in April 2025, and the applications period for the 2026-2027 school year will open in December 2025.
Email amherstedfound@gmail.com if you have any questions.

2024-2025 Excellence Grant Awards

In its 30th year, the Amherst Education Foundation is thrilled to announce a total of $24,594 in grants have been awarded in support of programs spread throughout the Amherst-Pelham School District. Please see below for details on our funding of the following projects: Community Building & Restorative Practices, Fiber Art As A Mindful Practice, Gymnastics Mats, Playground Project: Outdoor Big Block Play, and Zooming In: 6th Grade Microscopes and Microscope Cameras.

Community Building & Restorative Practices
Lead Grantee: Ruth Killough-Hill
Grant Amount: $3,150
School: Fort River
Description: Through the Community and Restorative Circles model, Ruth Killough-Hill and Tamera Sullivan-Daley will work to expand students’ key skills in communication, expression of their cultural and social identities, shared values, leadership, and problem/conflict resolution by way of learning, practicing, and cultivating functional language and social skills. Deeper community will be fostered between all ages via student leadership, giving them a sense of belonging vital to academic and social/emotional growth. Furthermore, restorative justice practices will be built across the school’s community so that students will have learned the essential building blocks needed to continue the restorative justice work happening in the middle and high schools.

Fiber Art As A Mindful Practice
Lead Grantee: Jo-Ann Konieczny
Grant Amount: $4,475
Schools: Summit Academy
Description: This program will allow Summit Academy to train teachers and have the materials needed to expand its mindfulness practices as well as add a Fiber Arts elective to its current offerings. Jo-Ann Konieczny will be able to help students and teachers learn about fiber arts as a way to come to a state of flow. This skill building will help students use therapeutic practices to help them engage with both classes and counseling services. Students will expand their skills in managing emotions and channeling their creativity. By partnering with Olivia Feal at Amherst College, and the addition of a visiting artist for the year, students will also curate a culminating show at the Mead Art Museum.

Gymnastics Mats
Lead Grantee: Dustin James
Grant Amount: $7,000
Schools: Crocker Farm
Description: Dustin James will be updating the equipment used for the exciting and popular gymnastics unit in the PE program and throughout PE to keep kids safe when participating in innovative lessons. Physical activity and movement are an important part of our daily lives. During the gymnastics unit, students will learn/practice skills like balance, strength, flexibility, weight transfer, traveling, jumping and landing, and cooperative participation. New gymnastics mats will allow students to access and experience practicing these skills for years to come in a safe environment.

Playground Project: Outdoor Big Block Play
Lead Grantee: Giselle Gonzalez
Grant Amount: $7,602
School: Pelham Elementary
Description: Giselle Gonzalez will be working with Venuta Carulli, Chairperson of the PTO Playground Committee, to increase the amount of accessible play components available in the Pelham Elementary playground, expanding the opportunities available for students with varying abilities. Play is a central component to a student's ability to learn, grow and develop their social, emotional and academic skills and experiences. An increase in opportunities for play not only translates to gains in all these skills, but will also help in the larger effort for Pelham to both upgrade and expand its playground equipment.

Zooming In: 6th Grade Microscopes and Microscope Cameras
Lead Grantee: Jennifer Reese
Grant Amount: $2,367
School: Amherst and Pelham Elementary Schools
Description: This initiative will provide high quality compound microscopes, digital microscope cameras, and related equipment to all 6th grade science classrooms in the Amherst and Pelham elementary schools. These pieces of durable equipment will support 6th graders’ investigations throughout a new unit of study named “Cells & Systems” and will also serve as year-round classroom resource for exploring and understanding the world around us.