ChevronTexaco gives teachers help

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These 31 teachers, representing 26 schools in 13 Kern County school districts all received Teacher Classroom Grants ranging from $250 to $1,000 from ChevronTexaco.
ChevronTexaco is seeing to it that the ideas teachers develop to help students in the classroom become reality. Annual Teacher Classroom Grants from ChevronTexaco, totaling $25,000, were awarded to 31 Kern County teachers on Aug. 19 to help make the ideas reality. Teachers from 13 school districts gathered at the ChevronTexaco Bakersfield Energy Center in Bakersfield to receive grants awarded in individual increments of from $250 to $1,000. Grants are intended to support exemplary projects and innovations in math, science, reading, health and safety training, along with helping prepare students for the work place.

As she presented teachers with their grants, ChevronTexaco Policy, Government and Public Affairs Representative Linda Robinson told them, "Since we began the Teacher Classroom Grant Program five years ago, ChevronTexaco has donated more than $122,000 to fund 153 classroom grants. If you put a pencil to those figures, the numbers show the grant program has succeeded in reaching about 20,000 students."

One who received a grant of $1,000 from ChevronTexaco was Kern County Superintendent of Schools' Special Education Programs teacher Anthony Goss, who instructs students with severe disabilities in grades 4-8 at Rio Bravo-Greeley School. He will use the grant to fund his program idea called "I'm Ready for a Close-Up!" Goss' students are autistic, have mental retardation or Down syndrome.

"ChevronTexaco's generous grant will allow me to purchase a digital camera that will include my students and other students at Rio Bravo-Greeley in creating a monthly newsletter to send home to families," Goss said. "My students will take pictures and write social stories that will appear in the newsletter, and other students will pose for the pictures and help us set up the paper. It is bringing a visual program to students who typically have difficulty with audio processing, which is basically understanding verbal direction. This will give them the excitement of seeing their successes in pictures as they build reading skills. They are a fun, enthusiastic group, and I know this will be a learning experience for them."

Kern County Superintendent of Schools Larry E. Reider attended the awards ceremony. Reider's office collaborates with ChevronTexaco making payment of the checks with funds provided by ChevronTexaco.

"ChevronTexaco's participation underscores the firm's commitment to community citizenship," Reider said. "It gives many of the county's classroom teachers the resources to try out new approaches that increase student learning and interest in the subject matter. Resources are always an issue, and these awards help stretch those resources."

This year 26 schools in 13 school districts benefitted. Eligible public schools are located in areas where ChevronTexaco has facilities and are limited to public high schools in the Kern High, Taft Union High, Wasco Union High, Maricopa Unified, Coalinga and San Ardo school districts and K-8 public schools that feed them. Grant requests must follow California education content standards and be used to fund materials, supplies and equipment only.
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