Walking through the halls of Brook Glenn Elementary School, the walls burst with color — student art from cityscapes to clay creatures. At the heart of it all is art teacher Sarah Jones, a recent recipient of a $500 Greenville Federal Credit Union teacher grant.
Turning a grant into creativity
With the grant, Sarah purchased molds, stamps, and rollers that helped her students bring more personality into their ceramics. This year, her fifth graders used the tools to create bowls for a special community event: the Art Show Ice Cream Social Extravaganza.
Building community impact
Parents purchased ice cream — donated by Marble Slab — served in the handmade bowls, raising $1,152 for the Eastside YMCA food bank, which directly supports the local community.
Lasting lessons for students
For Sarah, the grant goes beyond supplies. It fuels creativity, gives students meaningful projects, and helps children in lower-income families create lasting gifts for loved ones. Her passion for teaching traces back to her own high school years, when she dreamed of inspiring students through art.
Sarah encourages other teachers to apply for Greenville Federal Credit Union’s teacher grants: “Just do it! What do you have to lose?”
