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Abi Douglas, Digital Media Specialist
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 2, 2024

PETAL, Miss. – Petal School District (PSD) educators, Emily Black and Christy Sheffield, have been awarded classroom grants from the Mississippi Professional Educators (MPE), a statewide professional association founded in 1979 with approximately 12,000 teachers, administrators, and non-certified staff from kindergarten to graduate school level.

Black, a career readiness teacher at Petal High School, plans to use her grant funding for a project entitled “Career Creation Stations.” This innovative project provides hands-on experiences to explore various career paths while fostering self-awareness, promoting critical thinking and encouraging engagement through differentiated learning.

Christy Sheffield, a 7 and 8 grade STEM and science teacher at Petal Middle School, plans to use her grant funding for a project entitled “Fueling Future Innovators: Exploring Simple Machines and Hydraulics in Middle School STEM Education.” This project focuses on building a hydraulic robotic arm with simple machines and allowing students to experiment with various designs to understand how hydraulic force can control and move objects.

“Our educators go above and beyond, and we appreciate the grants received from MPE to give them the extra support needed to provide a more enriching experience for our students. Our students will directly benefit from the special funding opportunity,” said Dr. Matt Dillon, PSD superintendent of schools.

MPE awards up to $40,000 in classroom grants to MPE members who wish to enhance instructional offerings or educational experiences for their students. For more information on MPE’s classroom grant program and other benefits, please visit www.mpe.org.

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