2019-20 Nine Proposals Approved For Grant Support

Parents Association Enrichment Grants 2019-2020

Nine proposals submitted by Bullis faculty were approved in 2019-20 for grant support by the Parents Association (PA). These exciting projects were funded by the PA as well as by additional private funding.

Here's an overview of the funded projects:

1. Ballet Folklorico Performance at the National Hispanic Heritage Month Assembly (K-12 All students): This Latin American dance performance at the All-School Assembly will impact our music, dance, language, and social studies curricula in an interdisciplinary way. It will also expose students to an aspect of Hispanic culture.
2. Using Froebel Gifts to Promote Design Thinking and Creativity in the Early Years (Lower School K-5): Freidrich Froebel invented the original Kindergarten program in the early 1800s. His “gifts” are a series of toys that promote open-ended experimentation, similar to building blocks and Tinker Toys. Educators are using Froebel gifts to promote collaboration, critical and design thinking skills, and creativity. Younger students engage in open-ended play and learn how to care for the gifts. Older students engage in “Genius Hour” sessions and build mazes, set up a still life, or build sculptures.
3. Outdoor Classroom/Outlast Blocks (Lower School K-5): After reading Last Child in the Woods, this faculty member was inspired to supplement our playground with these building blocks that encourage open-ended play, collaboration, resourcefulness, and design thinking as students become “architects to their visions.” The blocks are weatherproof, and they will be stored outdoors in a communal space for us by all Lower Schoolers. 
4. Middle School Speaker Series and East Ed Middle School Diversity Conference (Middle School Grades 6-8): This grant will permit Middle School to bring Mr. Rodney Glasgow to speak at a MS Assembly. Ms. Glasgow is a noted speaker, facilitator, trainer, and activist in the areas of diversity, equity, and social justice. He will also provide training to MS Advisors who will then conduct follow-up activities with students during advisory meetings. In addition, this grant would be used to fund the attendance of 12 MS students at the East Ed Middle School Diversity Conference. These students will be expected to share what they have learned with the entire MS community.
5. NorthBay’s On Campus Residential School Year Program (Middle School 6th graders): Sixth grade students will engage in project-based learning at NorthBay’s residential campus in Elk Neck State Park (northeast Maryland) on the Chesapeake Bay from Tuesday, May 26, through Friday, May 29. Students will engage in a variety of environmental investigations, team-building activities, and adventure activities such as the ropes course or the zipline. This overnight field trip is the major experiential component of the sixth grade project-based learning curriculum, The Weight of Water. During the cross-curricular Weight of Water project, students examine the local and global water crisis through projects in every class.
6. One Love Workshops (Upper School 11th and 12th graders - total of 304 students): For the past four years, the Bullis senior class has participated in the Escalation Workshop curriculum, which was developed by the One Love Foundation to help teach our young adults the signs of healthy versus unhealthy relationships. One Love was established in 2010 after Yeardley Love was murdered by her ex-boyfriend. The Escalation Workshop involves training of senior Peer Mentors by the Foundation staff. The Peer Mentors then work with the entire senior class, first by viewing the Escalation film and then by engaging in small group discussions. The hope is that seniors will talk freely with their peers, and that trained peer mentors can facilitate awareness and outreach if necessary. This year, the Upper School wishes to broaden the scope of the program by adding “Behind the Post” for the junior class. This program also incorporates video clips and large and small group discussions with a focus on how social media might play a role in unhealthy relationship patterns. There will also be a follow-up educational program for parents through the PA Education Committee.
7. A Visit With Henry David Thoreau (Upper School 11th graders - 130 students): A Visit With Henry David Thoreau (Upper School (US) 11th graders -130 students) All English and social studies (Humanities) classes will be visited by Richard Smith, an actor who impersonates Henry David Thoreau. Mr. Smith will have conversations and interactions with the entire junior class as he provides an experiential education on the topics of Thoreau’s Transcendental philosophy as well as his significant contributions to abolition and social justice. The real-life interactions with Thoreau will provide a memorable learning experience for our students.
8. Viewing of Harriet Tubman movie (Upper School - Approx. 50 students, grades 9-12, in the African American History Seminar and the Black Student Union): Students will engage in preliminary research into the life and historical legacy of Harriet Tubman prior to viewing the movie. After the movie, students will engage in collaborative discussions regarding the movie’s historical accuracy, focusing on how African American history is portrayed in the mainstream media.
9. Walk Into History Tour: Cambridge, Maryland (Upper School 97 seniors in English IV and 35 Upper Schoolers in African American Studies - total 113 students): The grant is requesting funds for lunch for 123 Bullis students and chaperones at Creek Deli plus $100 to donate to The Harriet Tubman Museum and Educational Center in Cambridge, Maryland. The experiential learning field trip to Cambridge will provide students with a historical context of early 19th century Maryland through visits to the pier where ships with enslaved Africans docked in the 1700’s, the site of slave auctions, and the Harriet Tubman Visitor Center and Museum and Educational Center. This experiential learning opportunity will supplement in-class studies of Kindred by Octavia Butler and an in-depth study of enslaved people in the antebellum South.

LS = Lower School
MS = Middle School
US = Upper School