Latest Grants Awarded

ZEF Awards $24,737 in Fall Grants to Support ZCS Educators and Students

The Zionsville Education Foundation (ZEF) has awarded $24,737 in Fall Classroom Grants to educators at Zionsville Community Schools (ZCS), providing funding for eight innovative projects designed to enhance teaching and learning across the district. Through these grants, ZEF empowers ZCS educators to bring new ideas to life, strengthen classroom instruction, and create meaningful academic experiences that benefit students today and in the years ahead. We would like to thank the Arthur Family Gift Fund, Boone REMC Community Fund, Chic Nails, Community Foundation of Boone County, Duke Energy, and Eli Lilly and Company for their support of this grant cycle.

From modernizing science labs to prepare students for the advanced tools they will encounter in their future college or career pursuits to creating the latest research-based outdoor learning environments, ZEF is investing in the creativity and dedication of ZCS educators. These grants help educators expand beyond traditional classroom instruction, introduce hands-on learning experiences, and provide students with opportunities to learn, explore, and prepare for the future.

2026 Fall Classroom Grants

3D Printing For All ($978)
Molly Seward – Trailside Elementary School
Two new enclosures for heavily used 3D printers will create a safer, more reliable environment for approximately 500 students to explore, design, and produce 3D-printed projects. The enclosures will reduce print failures and potential printer damage while allowing students to safely observe the printing process up close and engage more consistently in hands-on STEM and computer science learning. The project builds on ZEF’s previous investment in the school’s 3D printers and supports a wide range of student experiences, including CAD design, classroom learning, robotics, musical productions, and community service projects.

Bringing the Stage to Life: Cross-Disciplinary Student Innovation Through Puppetry and Performance ($4,000)
Sam Chenoweth – Zionsville Community High School
Students will bring a life-size, dual-operator bull puppet to life through a unique cross- disciplinary experience integrating classroom and co-curricular theater, choir, band, and technical production. Students will gain hands-on experience in theatrical engineering, puppetry, physical acting, musical performance, leadership, and collaborative problem- solving while working alongside professional fabricators. The project will also create lasting value through a reusable theatrical asset that can be transformed into other animals, an expanded arts curriculum, and opportunities for students to represent Zionsville on regional and national stages.

Building Tomorrow’s Scientists: Modernizing Our Science Labs ($7,700)
Jessie Showalter, Dawn Makley – Zionsville Community High School
Funding Partner: Eli Lilly and Company
Updated laboratory equipment and instructional materials will modernize the science labs at Zionsville Community High School and expand hands-on, inquiry-based learning across multiple STEM courses. The project will directly benefit approximately 1,000 students each year by providing opportunities for critical thinking, scientific reasoning, collaboration, and laboratory skills through authentic experimentation and data analysis. By providing shared, durable resources for courses including AP Chemistry, AP Environmental Science, Chemistry, and Advanced Genetics & Biotechnology, the grant will create lasting opportunities for students to build skills that support college and future STEM careers.

Courtyard Classroom ($2,411.91)
Nick Kellum – Trailside Elementary School
A new outdoor learning space at Trailside Elementary will feature convertible benches and a mobile magnetic whiteboard to serve approximately 500 students in PreK–4th grade. Building on a master plan provided by a Purdue Landscape Architecture capstone project, this project incorporates the latest research and best practices for outdoor learning spaces. The space will increase academic engagement by giving teachers a flexible setting for hands-on learning, collaboration, STEM activities, reading, writing, art, and other lessons.

Growing the Senses: A Multi-Sensory Outdoor Learning Courtyard ($1,988)
Melissa Wirth, Carolyn Schierholz, Michelle Weesies, Kyle Biemfohr – Pleasant View Elementary
Pleasant View Elementary’s existing courtyard will be transformed into a sustainable, multi-sensory outdoor classroom where approximately 700 students can explore nature through hands-on experiences involving sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste. The project will provide impactful, experiential learning opportunities across STEM, writing, art, and social-emotional development by allowing students to observe wildlife, investigate plants and seasonal changes, conduct experiments, and create nature-inspired work. As a lasting school-wide resource, the courtyard will engage students with diverse learning styles while giving teachers an adaptable outdoor learning space that can be used year after year.

Human to Human Interface ($2,477.05)
Michael Murphy – Zionsville West Middle School
Hands-on equipment will give 5th and 6th grade students at Zionsville West Middle School the opportunity to explore the connections among brain signals, electrical activity, and muscle movement. By allowing students to observe EMG signals and experience involuntary movement caused by electrical stimulation, the project will make the abstract concepts of neuroscience and the nervous system tangible, memorable, and engaging. The reusable equipment will also connect classroom learning to real-world fields such as biomedical engineering, neuroprosthetics, and rehabilitation technology while fostering students’ collaboration, critical-thinking, problem-solving, and STEM career awareness.

Nature’s Blueprint: Designing Solutions for Tomorrow ($2,929)
Emily Allen, Christy DeCamp – Zionsville Middle School
Taking inspiration from nature through the discipline of biomimicry, 6th grade students will use modeling software and 3D printing to design and build physical prototypes that address real-world problems. The project will create an immersive, hands-on opportunity to experience the full engineering design process while developing creativity, critical thinking, problem-solving, perseverance, communication, and teamwork skills. This investment will serve nearly 1,000 students over the next three years while continuing to benefit future classes beyond that period.

Scholastic Scope Subscription ($2,477.05)
Jessica Day, Shannon Elkins, Erin Collier, Mary Pat Huber, Luke Boes, Jennifer Lawrence, Sawyer Matthews – Zionsville Middle School
6th grade classrooms will gain access to physical and digital Scholastic Scope magazines, providing engaging, multi-genre articles, historical content, and literacy activities to enhance the Humanities curriculum. The subscription will support strengthened reading comprehension, fluency, vocabulary, communication, and critical-thinking skills while helping students connect Language Arts learning to meaningful historical events, figures, and human stories. By offering these relevant texts for classroom instruction, the project provides teachers with a versatile resource to foster student interest and reinforce key academic standards across disciplines.

______________________________________

The impact of these grants extends far beyond the classroom. With continued support from donors, businesses, and families, ZEF continues turning innovative ideas into meaningful learning opportunities for students across ZCS. Together, we invest in the future of our students, strengthen our schools, and ensure that great ideas have the funding they need to thrive.