Diegueño, San Dieguito Academy teachers earn grants from North Island Credit Union

Diegueño Middle School teacher Maura Leonard and San Dieguito High School Academy teacher John Oly Norris are recipients of the North Island Credit Union Spring 2021 Teacher Grants, awarded to assist educators in funding innovative learning opportunities for their students.

The program provides 10 grants of $500 each to directly support classroom projects in San Diego County.

North Island Credit Union Encinitas VP and Branch Manager Lou Palestini, Diegueno Middle School teacher and Maura Leonard and Principal Cara Dolnik.

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“We are deeply committed to supporting the education community, and our grant program is one way we are continuing to assist teachers as they work to engage and inspire their students,” said North Island Credit Union CEO Steve O’Connell. “We congratulate these educators who are going above and beyond to create exciting new programs for their students and families. We hope these grants will help our teachers bring learning to life for their students in creative and innovative ways.”

The credit union grants will help fund a wide variety of programs illustrating the creativity and commitment teachers bring to their classrooms and communities. Projects receiving grants include teaching the socio-political history of rock n’ roll, 3D printers to support science and history learning, recorded cultural history programs, coding and computing curriculums, team art projects for at-risk youth and play-based therapy to address student trauma.

Since the creation of the program in 2012, the credit union has awarded $135,000 in teacher grants to support classroom programs.