FREEHOLD, N.J.–The First Financial Foundation has awarded grants to several teachers.
Manchester Township Middle School special education teacher Susan Holland received a $93.50 Erma Dorrer classroom grant for the 2019-2020 school year.
Holland submitted a grant application to purchase a set of books called The Egypt Game for her seventh grade social studies class, which includes students with multiple disabilities.
At right, First Financial’s Matthew Brazinski and Jessica Tortorice, and grant recipient Susan Holland with some of her students.
“My class will be studying ancient Egypt this year and I would like to include a cross-curricular component by reading this novel together as a class,” said Holland. “My students will identify with the characters as well as the content of the book. It would be a great opportunity for the students to strengthen their reading stamina and comprehension skills. I will continue to use these books in years to come.”
“Education has and always will be a pivotal piece of our organization, and we’re delighted to be able to help our local educators enhance their classroom experience,” said First Financial President and CEO Issa Stephan.
Separately, Theresa Eagan, a third grade teacher at Dr. Gerald H. Woehr Elementary School, received a $159.96 Erma Dorrer classroom grant for the 2019-2020 school year.
Eagan submitted a grant application to purchase educational tools to teach her third grade classes about financial education and banking, as part of the school district’s economics curriculum within the social studies department.
“Our third grade classes learn how banking works in terms of savings, deposits, and withdrawals,” said Eagan. “I would like to have a hands-on ATM toy machine that would enable the children to see how ATMs operate. It would be beneficial for the students to be able to create a PIN, use an ATM card, and see how banking transactions take place. It would also be educational for our students to see how savings is important.”
Stephan also noted that the Foundation committee had a tough job of choosing just seven winning teachers out of the numerous applications received this year.
“We received double the amount of classroom grant entries this year, which included heartwarming essays and videos from educators hoping to use the grant money to implement or maintain a variety of creative programs within their schools,” said Stephan. “We wish we were able to reward each and every one of our participants, and after extremely careful consideration we selected the seven initiatives in which we felt the grant money would have the largest impact.”
Below, First Financial’s Jessica Tortorice and Matthew Brazinski, grant recipient Theresa Eagan, and Principal Walter Therien.