Foundation Awards $1.1 Million to Teachers Through Visions for Learning Grants Program

St. Paul, Minn. – Ecolab Inc., the global leader in water, hygiene and energy technologies and services, has awarded $1.1 million in grants to K-12 educators throughout the U.S. through the Ecolab Foundation’s 2016 Visions for Learning Educator Grants program. The Visions for Learning program provides K-12 teachers with funds to purchase equipment and materials to enhance the classroom experience for their students. In 2016, more than 680 grants were provided through the Visions for Learning program, benefitting nearly 340 schools and more than 150,000 students nationwide.

“Ecolab Visions for Learning Educator Grants support the incredible work teachers are doing in their classrooms to augment basic skills instruction,” said Kris Taylor, vice president of Community Relations at Ecolab.  “Teachers submit applications for materials to make their lesson plans more engaging for students, creating richer educational experiences that will better prepare young people for successful futures.”

Since the program began in 1986, more than $13.9 million has been distributed to teachers in classrooms across the U.S.  The 2016 Visions for Learning program included the distribution of $244,000 in grants to educators in St. Paul, Minn., the home of Ecolab’s world headquarters.

Projects funded through this year’s grants include reading materials for Spanish, Native American Culture and English Language Learner classes, supplies for an underwater robotics class, trigonometry surveillance kits, materials for a multicultural poetry publication class, and resources for an elementary school wind column experiment.

The Ecolab Foundation contributes to the quality of life in the communities where the company operates, supporting organizations and programs focused on youth and education, civic and community development, arts and culture, and the environment and conservation. For more information on the Visions for Learning Educator Grants program, visit www.ecolab.com.

Featured

  • Opportunity by Design Framework

    Opportunity by Design

    Educational improvement efforts often focus on curriculum, instruction, assessment, professional development, and intervention systems while treating the physical school building as background. But school design is not a passive backdrop to learning — it is a structural lever for equity.

  • University of Mary Washington Selects Builder for New Theater, Dance Facility

    The University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Va., recently announced that it has selected construction and development firm Skanska to lead a series of renovations and upgrades to fine arts facilities, according to a news release.

  • Texas A&M Opens First Building at Fort Worth Campus, Breaks Ground on Research Facility

    The Texas A&M University System marked a major milestone in the development of its Fort Worth campus by opening its first completed academic building and breaking ground on a second facility designed to expand research and industry collaboration.

  • Esports are Growing in Popularity

    Video games and esports are a popular social hobby, and it’s one that’s accessible to a wide variety of physical ability levels. Some esport student-athletes have started to earn scholarship opportunities, and high schools are beginning to form teams equipped with the same degree of resources as their physical sports teams. However, the two have very different needs.