Grand Strand teachers nab over $40,000 in Colbert donations

More than 70 teachers along the Grand Strand scored classroom project funding thanks to a TV personality with S.C. roots.

Stephen Colbert announced last week he would help fund nearly 1,000 projects pitched by South Carolina teachers on DonorsChoose.org, funding over $40,000 of projects in Horry and Georgetown counties.

Horry County schools received a total of $19,626 for 30 projects around the district, including several grants requested by the Palmetto Academy of Learning and Success. The charter school scored almost $2,000 in project funds and can now purchase a document camera, pencil sharpeners for every classroom and give two teachers the ability to complete their Gifted and Talented certifications.

“Colbert’s gift ultimately means we’ll have better trained teachers that have learned how to provide the right level content to all different levels of students,” said Courtney Fancher, principal.

Colbert partnered with Share Fair Nation and ScanSource to fund every S.C. classroom project posted to DonorsChoose.org. The nearly $800,000 in contributions will fund nearly 1,000 projects for more than 800 teachers at more than 375 schools in the state.

“As silly as it might seem, when teachers get these small projects funded it means a lot,” Fancher said. “It reinforces that the world thinks that what they’re doing matters, that what they’re doing is good.”

Palmetto Academy already has pencil sharpeners for every class but they burn out regularly due to heavy use, Fancher said. Parents and the public don’t always realize how many materials classrooms burn through every year, so any donations are welcome.

“It kind of seems like a silly request, but the teachers put a lot of money into the classroom,” Fancher said.

DonorsChoose.org allows any teacher to write their own grant asking for classroom supplies, travel funding or certificate tuition. The website allows anyone to help pay for a classroom need online.

Allison Shanahan, teacher at Seaside Elementary in Garden City, nabbed more than $2,000 from Colbert’s donations for thousands of classroom LEGOs. Shanahan – who had the largest grant in Horry County – said her students will use the LEGOs to create stop-motion movies over a two-month period.

Each fifth-grade student will write a script, design a story board, build the set, move each figure and take each picture themselves before editing a final film, Shanahan said. The goal is to teach students all the different job opportunities in art-related fields while collaborating with classmates.

“That’s the problem with technology – it’s so individual sometimes, students are just in their own heads,” Shanahan said. “These projects will give everyone the chance to work together and create something.”

Shanahan’s grant campaign had a few hurdles before Colbert announced his donations; it almost expired and nobody had donated money yet. Luckily, Colbert came through.

The durability of LEGOs allows for the pieces to be used for many projects over the coming years, Shanahan said, which has already created buzz in the younger classes.

“The kids just love it,” she said. “The younger brothers and sisters are already talking about it.”

Schools in Georgetown County will receive more than $25,000 in funding 45 individual projects.

Kensington Elementary pulled in the most grants, including $1,057 for a high-end digital camera for movie-making and other classroom activities. Science materials, books and an iPad were also funded, which will all give students the ability to learn and grow, Thompkins said.

“These [grants] give us a chance to further our children’s opportunities for progress in school, or to maybe have a club where we didn’t have one in place,” Jamie Thompkins, principal, said.

Colbert’s generosity “astounded” Thompkins, especially since the public doesn’t always know the amount of personal time, effort and money teachers pour into their classrooms. Recognizing the needs of educators around the state shows how vested the TV personality – and S.C. native – is in education.

“It’s nice to know that there are people looking at what we do every day, and recognizing the importance of it,” she said.

The recognition is important, but the generous donations to South Carolina schools also matters.

“If I had known I could have asked for the moon, I would have asked for the moon,” Thompkins said.

This story was originally published May 15, 2015 at 10:20 AM with the headline "Grand Strand teachers nab over $40,000 in Colbert donations."