Two PCSC teachers, Beth Bohnert, English teacher at PCHS, and Madison Hendershot-Martin, Special Education teacher at WES, were recently awarded grants by the Indiana Retired Teachers Association Foundation. Gene Van Stone, the Director of Area 9, and David Weathers, a retired PCSC teacher, represented the Indiana Retired Teachers Association in personally presenting the awards to Bohnert and Hendershot-Martin.
Van Stone spoke of the engaging proposals written by these teachers and the importance of such passion in today’s schools. Bohnert will use grant funds to purchase a class set of novels, providing the basis for in-depth discussions and community-engaged projects that center on the novel’s theme that books can carry us anywhere. Hendershot-Martin will purchase books to help students who are dealing with external factors that create barriers to learning and school engagement, such as economic hardships. Van Stone added that these are the only projects in all of Area 9 that are receiving support this year, which is comprised of 11 counties, further illustrating the quality of the proposals.