OnPoint Community Credit Union’s annual Prize for Excellence in Education campaign has announced the five schools being honored with the Community Builder award.
Four schools will receive $2,000 for a special project of their choice and Grout Elementary on SE Holgate Blvd. will receive $5,000 for being selected by community votes.
Grout’s project is the Grounds Improvement Project, to repair the Grout Elementary compacted soil and uneven and bare surfaces of the track and field.
Alfonso Garcia Arriola, a 7th and 8th grade science teacher at ACCESS Academy, on SE 60th Ave.; and Jesse Gardner, a career and college exploration and hip-hop literature teacher at Madison High School on SE 91st Ave., were both inducted into OnPoint’s Circle of Excellence.
The honor provides a $1,500 cash prize to each teacher and a $1,000 donation to their school. Four other teachers in Oregon and Washington were named to the Circle of Excellence as well.
The one remaining award, the 2020 Educators of the Year, will see two winners (one K-8 and one 9-12). The winners will have their mortgages paid for one full year and receive $2,500 for their schools. The winners’ names will be revealed on May 27.
Alison Herron, a kindergarten teacher at Marysville Elementary on SE Raymond St., and Matt Sten, a modern world history, government and economics teacher at Cleveland High School on SE 26th Ave, were named as finalists.
Two additional teachers in Oregon complete the group of finalists. Two runners up (one K-8 and one 9-12) will each receive $5,000 with an additional $1,500 for their schools.