Latest Grants Awarded

ZEF Awards $72,913 to Power Big Ideas in Spring Classroom Grants and Imagine Professional Development Grants

The Zionsville Education Foundation (ZEF) has awarded $72,913.95 in Spring Classroom Grants and Imagine Professional Development Grants to educators at Zionsville Community Schools (ZCS) this spring. These investments will open the door for richer, more engaging academic experiences and impact students and educators across the district in lasting ways. We would like to thank the Community Foundation of Boone County, the Boone REMC Community Fund, a wonderful and anonymous family in the community, and Gregg Barth in memory of Anne Barth for the support of this grant cycle.

A total of $27,036.96 in Spring Classroom Grants will bring exciting new opportunities to students. Through classroom equipment, innovative new course support, foundational reading resources, expanded STEM learning, calming kits, executive functioning tools, and more, our teachers are championing excellence for our students.

2026 Spring Classroom Grants

Tools of the Trade: Building an Industry-Level Jewelry Classroom ($4,854.30)
Grace Fletcher – Zionsville Community High School
By providing access to real-world equipment and processes, this grant will elevate a new and in-demand ZCHS art course, empowering students to think creatively, solve complex problems, and produce high-quality pieces that reflect both technical skill and artistic vision.

Brain Work Block ($1,671.70)
Madalyn Jacobs – Trailside Elementary
This grant will be used to purchase strategy-based board games carefully selected to build students’ executive functioning skills. Students will play these games during a weekly “Brain Work Block.” This initiative equips students with lasting strategies they can apply across academic, social, and real-world situations.

Supporting Readers from Foundational Skills to Comprehension ($9,822.16)
Christine Squier, Casey Allen, Katie O’Brien – All Elementary Schools
This grant provides research-based books to bridge the gap between foundational reading skills and grade-level comprehension for students who need additional support, while allowing them to learn by reading about the same educational topics along with their peers.

Kindergarten Pushes and Pulls Celebration ($1,325)
MacKenzie Luse – Boone Meadow Elementary
This grant brings the STEM-focused educational organization SciKidz to Boone Meadow Elementary for an in-school science experience that extends kindergarten students’ Pushes and Pulls unit. Through hands-on labs and design challenges, students will explore how forces and motion work in the world around them.

Supporting Self-Regulation through Classroom Calming Toolkits ($1,126)
Jessica Wetzel – Stonegate Elementary
School counselor Jessica Wetzel will use this grant to equip every K–4 Stonegate Elementary classroom with calming toolkits that support student self-regulation and create inclusive, supportive learning environments.

Lego Education Science & Lego Education CS and AI ($8,237.80)
Angie Miller, Kathleen Evans – Zionsville West Middle School
LEGO® Education Science and CS & AI kits funded through this grant will enhance existing 5th-8th grade science and computer science curriculum by allowing students to build and test models connected to topics they already are studying like energy transfer, forces and motion, ecosystems, and Earth systems.

Total 2026 Spring Classroom Grants Awarded: $27,036.96
______________________________________

With $45,876.99 in Imagine Professional Development Grants, ZCS educators will pursue cutting-edge professional growth through educational conferences, place-based learning experiences with colleagues, and on-campus opportunities focused on AI in education. Our dedicated educators will bring back the latest research-based practices to share across ZCS so all may benefit from their learnings.

2026 Imagine Professional Development Grants

Amy Ertel – Zionsville Middle School ($2,442.58)
Building Educator Capacity and Educational Practice Through Executive Functioning Skills PD
This grant enables ZMS teacher Amy Ertel to attend the Learning and the Brain Conference, deepening her expertise in adolescent executive function and translating neuroscience research into practical classroom strategies to strengthen student attention, emotional regulation, cognitive control, and flexible thinking.

Martha Farley and the Universal Preschool Team of Lead Instructors – All Preschools ($5,395)
Growing Strong: Early Childhood Professional Learning Project
This grant will send all 15 ZCS Universal Preschool Lead Instructors to the Indiana Early Childhood Conference. The experience will bring together preschool leaders who currently work in six different ZCS buildings, strengthening collaboration as the district prepares to unite its preschool programs in the new Early Learning Center, ultimately benefiting students across the district.

Stevie Frank – All Schools ($1,500)
Professional Experience Leading AI-Focused Instructional Learning
Through this grant, all ZCS educators will be invited to participate in an on-campus, in-person professional learning experience with author Matt Miller, centered on his “Tomorrow Glasses” framework for thinking about artificial intelligence in education.

Allison Hagerty, Christine Milligan, Trish Shera – Zionsville West Middle School ($9,000)
Roots and Routes: Place-Based Professional Development in Nez Perce Homelands
This grant funds a place-based professional learning experience in the Nez Perce (Nimiipuu) homelands to deepen teachers’ understanding of the people and history explored in the Wit & Wisdom Grade 5 “Cultures in Conflict” module.

Marissa Argus – Trailside Elementary ($2,225.41)
Reading Science 2.0 – Leveling Up!
Trailside literacy coach Marissa Argus will use this grant to attend the Plain Talk Literacy Conference, deepening her expertise in research-based literacy practices. The knowledge gained will provide opportunities for students across the school community to strengthen their reading proficiency.

Melissa Weipert – Zionville Middle School ($2,758)
Dino Dig
ZMS math and science teacher Melissa Weipert will use this grant to participate in an educator-focused dinosaur dig in Wyoming, an opportunity made possible through her acceptance to a competitive STEM partnership program between The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis and Butler University.

Michael Murphy, Michael DeLand – Zionsville West Middle School ($1,620)
The 2026 VEX Robotics Educators Conference
ZWMS PLTW teachers Michael Murphy and Michael DeLand will attend the 2026 VEX Robotics Educators Conference. This experience will help strengthen robotics and PLTW programming by bringing back research-based teaching strategies, advanced coding techniques, and design practices that build students’ problem-solving, collaboration, and real-world engineering skills.

Katie Werner, Annette Sinsko, Callie Surface – Eagle Elementary ($3,950)
Stories Beneath the Torch: Exploring Immigration Through History and Art
This grant enables Eagle Elementary’s third-grade teacher team to deepen their understanding of immigration history and art through an immersive professional learning trip to Ellis Island, the Statue of Liberty, the Tenement Museum, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The project will help students better understand immigration experiences while building empathy, cultural awareness, and communication skills.

Emily Parker – Trailside Elementary ($3,000)
Developing Museum-Based Strategies for Teaching Modern and Contemporary Art
This grant provides Trailside Elementary art teacher Emily Parker with the opportunity to participate in the Connecting Collections Summer Institute, hosted by The Metropolitan Museum of Art in partnership with the Museum of Modern Art and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. Her learnings will support students’ contemporary and modern art visual literacy, critical thinking, and confidence expressing their ideas, while also fostering arts integration across classrooms.

Christopher Hindsley, Soledad Saldias Thiel – Zionsville West Middle School ($5,126)
Affirmation, Empowerment, and Connection for Colleagues: The 2026 ACTFL National Convention
This grant supports ZWMS world language teachers Christopher Hindsley (French) and Soledad Saldias Thiel (Spanish) in attending the ACTFL National Convention & World Language Expo. Through sessions focused on proficiency-based instruction, authentic communication, and culturally responsive teaching, they will gain practical strategies to strengthen language learning in their classrooms.

Andrew Foreman, Tom Hundley – Eagle and Boone Meadow Elementary ($6,000)
Where Learning Thrives: Exploring Finland’s Approach to Education
Eagle Elementary Principal Andrew Foreman and Boone Meadow Elementary Principal Tom Hundley will attend the LIFE 2027 Conference alongside global education leaders. The insights from Finland’s internationally recognized education system will inform instructional leadership and professional learning across ZCS, as they share strategies and reflections with educators throughout the district.

Sarah Wright, Ashley Murray, Megan Brenton, Madeline Edwards, Keegan Lammers – Zionsville Middle School, Zionsville West Middle School, and Zionsville Community High School ($2,860)
Texas Music Educators Association Conference, 2027
This grant supports ZCS orchestra teachers in attending the Texas Music Educators Association Annual Clinic/Convention, the largest music education conference in the country. By attending together, ZCS orchestra teachers will strengthen alignment across the district’s 5th-12th grade orchestra program while bringing back practical techniques and resources to support more than 650 orchestra students.

Total 2026 Imagine Professional Development Grants Awarded: $45,876.99
______________________________________

In 2026, ZEF continues to play a vital role in strengthening ZCS and keeping opportunities accessible, even when state funding falls short. Through the support of donors, local businesses, and community members, ZEF helps ensure students experience learning that goes beyond the basics, from innovative classroom projects to meaningful, real-world opportunities for its educators. While Zionsville schools are consistently recognized among the best in Indiana, they do so with the lowest per pupil funding in the State of Indiana. This makes ZEF community support not just valuable, but a critical part of continuing that standard for all of our students district-wide. Learn more about public school finance and the ZCS transparency commitment at https://www.zcsstrong.org/ZCS-School-Finance.