How to Make $3.5K Go a Long Way in a School

What would you do with $3,500? 

It doesn't seem like a lot, but here's how a $3,500 Paint Branch High School Educational Foundation Awards grant will be divided up to benefit a variety of departments at Paint Branch High School (14121 Old Columbia Pike, Burtonsville).

The Board of Directors of the Paint Branch High School Educational Foundation recently announced that the money will be used as eight mini-grants:  

1. New television production set for morning announcements: $500 to help offset the cost of lights.

"The second set will offer all students a forum to discuss current issues germane to all members of the Paint Branch community, [and] globally as well. It will help the television production students to gain more on-the-job training by performing a live round table discussion. The skills for this type of show are very different than the skills for a news show. Students will have a more enriched television production experience with this second set," according to a statement from the foundation.

2. Publishing of color pages for the school newspaper: $500 to "provide a partial make-up of the low ad revenue and [to] continue to support the high-quality publication that the Paint Branch community expects," the foundation reported.

3. 9th Grade Homework Center: $300 to provide healthy snacks for students attending the Homework Center. 

4. Horticulture improvements and education: $500 to help buy plants, planting materials and a sun dial. "Paint Branch High School grounds lack biological diversity that can be assessed by the student body. Little by little, it is the intent of the horticulture teacher to add more areas of interest around the school by diversifying the plantings," according to the foundation.

5. Performance trip to Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: $500 to help provide support to the Jazz Singers who have been invited to perform at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, OH. This grant will help fund part of the $5,000 in fundraising. 

6. Reading for Bread and Roses: $200 to purchase the specialty headphones required for accessing the Read 180 program. The headphones are in use daily and are beginning to wear out, the foundation reported.

7. Physics video studio: $500 to support the creation of a physics video studio at Paint Branch. "Specifically, items will be bought and built to observe and measure real physical phenomena such as rolling balls, hanging weights, cars on hills, descending elevators and the like. The physics video studio takes advantage of readily available video technology. A typical video will be taken in the classroom using a smartphone, then emailed to the teacher, and then displayed on the Promethean Board using a player that allows slow motion, frame-by-frame analysis. All the funds will be used for items that will make the videos better with an emphasis on easy measurement of times and distances, not video equipment," according to the foundation.

8. Healthy Eating: A Guide to Good Nutrition: $500 to fund the purchase of a set of five DVDs. "These eye-catching, teen-friendly videos will be used to compliment the Food Trends curriculum. They are: Basic Nutrition, Nutrition and Weight Management, Nutrition for Sports, Nutrition and Eating Disorders and Food Safety and Disease," according to the foundation.