Will you help Collier County teachers fill their classrooms with supplies, books, and joyful learning moments? Your gift makes sure that a child has everything she needs to learn on the first day of school and throughout the entire year.
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Ready to Learn: Building Student Independence Through Classroom Organization
The goal of this project is to increase student independence, responsibility, and organization by creating an efficient classroom environment where students can easily access, manage, and care for their learning materials. By providing dedicated storage for technology, books, homework materials, classroom incentives, and instructional resources, students will spend less time searching for materials and more time engaged in learning.
Students will use the organizational systems throughout the school day to independently manage our classroom materials and learning tools. Chair caddies will give each student a designated space to store frequently used materials such as computers, homework binders, books, and other supplies. This will allow students to quickly access and put away their materials without interrupting instruction or relying on the teacher for assistance.
A classroom cart will be used to organize and manage items in our classroom store. Students will be able to interact with the store as part of our classroom incentive system while practicing responsibility, decision-making, and organizational skills.
Two pocket charts will provide students with easily accessible visual organization systems. One will be used for student stickers and classroom incentives, while the other will organize our Fundations instructional materials so they can be quickly accessed during our literacy instruction.
These organizational tools will be incorporated into our daily classroom routines and procedures. Students will be explicitly taught how to use, maintain, and organize each system, allowing them to take greater ownership of their classroom environment. By creating predictable locations for materials, the project will promote independence, responsibility, and efficient transitions while maximizing time available for instruction.
This project will help students become more independent, organized, and responsible learners. I expect students to demonstrate greater ownership of their personal materials, complete classroom routines with less teacher assistance, and transition more efficiently between activities.
The organization systems will also reduce the amount of instructional time spent distributing, locating, and putting away materials. Students will have clearly designated spaces for their frequently used items, allowing them to develop routines that support independence and preparedness.
Success will be measured through teacher observations, student ability to independently access and organize materials, transition efficiency, and the frequency with which students require teacher assistance with classroom organization. I will also monitor whether the improved organization results in fewer interruptions and smoother transitions during the school day.
Ultimately, the project will create a more organized learning environment where students can take ownership of their materials, practice responsibility, and spend more time focused on learning.
Grant funds will be used to purchase classroom organization materials that will help students develop independence, responsibility, and organizational skills while maximizing instructional time. A set of 24 chair caddies will provide each student with a designated space to store frequently used materials such as their computer, homework binder, books, and other learning supplies. Having materials readily accessible will allow students to independently manage their belongings and transition more efficiently between activities.
A rolling classroom cart will be used to organize and store items for our classroom store. This system will allow students to access classroom incentives in an organized manner while providing opportunities to practice responsibility and decision-making.
A pocket chart for the Wilson Fundations program will provide an organized, easily accessible location for our Fundations instructional materials. A pack of two pocket charts will be used to organize our classroom sticker system and student incentives, creating a clear and consistent system that students can independently use.
These materials will be incorporated into our daily classroom routines and procedures. Students will be explicitly taught how to use and maintain each organizational system, giving them greater ownership of their materials and classroom environment. The requested items will support student independence, smoother transitions, and increased instructional time while creating a more organized and effective learning environment.
The total amount requested is $209.10, including applicable sales tax. These materials will directly benefit all 24 students in my classroom and can be reused with future classes, making this a sustainable investment in student organization, responsibility, and academic engagement.
209.10
Set of 24 Chair Caddies
128.99
Rolling Classroom Cart
37.37
Fundations Pocket Chart
11.99
Sticker Store Pocket Charts
17.99
Sales Tax
12.76
Silicon Glades: The Smart Sous-Chef - From Easy-Bake to Industrial Edge AI in the Kitchen
a) What is the overall purpose of your project?
To introduce precision food science, automated food safety compliance, and smart food waste tracking into the Professional Culinary Arts & Hospitality program. By combining a playful, micro-scale conveyor oven (an authentic Easy-Bake Ultimate Oven) with professional wireless temperature probes, a smart prep scale, and an edge computing workstation, adult culinary students will master the science of heat transfer, kitchen profit margins, and modern food safety monitoring.
b) What need(s) does it address?
Today’s commercial kitchens, resorts, and food production facilities rely on data to run safely and stay profitable. Executive chefs no longer just cook; they manage automated temperature logs for food safety inspections, control portion sizes, and closely track kitchen scraps to protect profit margins. However, teaching these advanced concepts in massive 500-degree commercial deck ovens is intimidating, slow, and expensive because full batch mistakes burn valuable food inventory. Using a small benchtop conveyor oven creates a low-stress, affordable testing lab where students can experiment with baking temperatures, heat curves, and waste auditing for just pennies in flour before moving to full-scale commercial ranges.
c) What learning goal, academic standard, or outcome does your project address?
This project aligns directly with the Florida Department of Education’s Professional Culinary Arts & Hospitality framework (Program N100500, CIP 0412050312), specifically supporting Food Preparation (Course HMV0100) competencies in ServSafe food safety standards, HACCP documentation, portion control, yield testing, and recipe costing.
Students will:
- Track and evaluate heat transfer and pastry browning (the Maillard reaction) using precision non-contact infrared sensors and internal wireless cooking probes.
- Maintain automated digital temperature logs to ensure strict compliance with commercial health department food safety regulations.
- Conduct smart waste and yield audits at the prep station to categorize food trimmings, calculate kitchen waste costs, and optimize recipe profitability.
d) How does this project connect to a school or district priority?
Directly supports Collier County Public Schools’ strategic focus on workforce acceleration, hands-on learning, and career placement. Southwest Florida’s premier hospitality and restaurant industry needs culinary graduates who possess both classic kitchen techniques and the digital management skills required to control inventory costs, maintain immaculate safety records, and lead modern kitchens.
Aligns with iTECH Vision of empowering students through innovating hands-on training and our shared beliefs that instruction must represent current technology and practices and that instruction is meaningful when it is relevant to the students and incorporates current issues.
a) How will students actively participate?
Students will work in culinary teams at a dedicated "Smart Kitchen Station". During baking units, teams will slide miniature dough samples through the micro-conveyor oven while overhead optical sensors and surface thermometers monitor browning and heat distribution in real time. At the prep table, students place vegetable peels, meat trimmings, and scrap food onto a digital scale beneath a camera, logging waste weights to analyze how knife technique and prep practices impact food yield and kitchen profits.
b) How will this project meet the needs of your students, classroom, and/or school?
This project demystifies kitchen data by making it approachable, memorable, and fun. The Easy-Bake Oven acts as a benchtop continuous tunnel oven—entering raw on one side and exiting baked on the other—allowing adult learners to safely test baking physics without fear of ruining expensive commercial stock. Mounted to a mobile, sanitary prep cart, this workstation brings high-tech diagnostic tools directly onto the kitchen floor without disrupting daily food service preparation.
c) What teaching strategies or instructional activities will be used?
The Golden-Brown Baking Challenge:
- Students use thermal sensors and color-tracking cameras to pinpoint the exact moment dough achieves optimal golden crust browning and interior doneness.
- Automated Food Safety Labs: Students insert wireless probes into cooling stocks and cooked proteins, recording real-time digital charts to prove compliance with critical health standards.
- Food Waste & Profit Margin Audits: Teams record prep scraps to calculate usable yield percentages and translate discarded weight into true ingredient dollar loss.
d) How will student participation connect to classroom instruction?
Directly reinforces core culinary competencies in sanitation, commercial baking methods, culinary math, recipe costing, and kitchen waste prevention. Culinary cohorts will rotate through the mobile station during lab periods, compiling their cooking data and scrap logs into a shared class portfolio.
Given the single mobile cart, culinary cohorts will rotate through scheduled lab blocks, each completing one full bake-and-audit cycle per session, with logged thermal curves and yield data compiled into a shared class dataset that grows across the term.
a) What specific improvements do you expect for your students?
Empowering Future Culinary Leaders: Many adult students in our culinary program balance family responsibilities and jobs while working to build sustainable careers. Mastering data-driven kitchen tools elevates our students beyond entry-level line cooks, preparing them for higher-paying positions as kitchen managers, sous chefs, and food service supervisors.
A Campus-Wide Cross-Disciplinary Bridge:
- Culinary Arts: Students master the physics of cooking, heat distribution, and portion control without wasting expensive food supplies.
- Accounting & Business Operations: Food scrap and recipe yield data connect directly with accounting classes to model real-world food cost percentages and loss prevention.
- Information Technology: IT students assist with the wireless sensor network and dashboard displays, giving both departments valuable collaboration experience.
- Campus-Wide Showcases: Provides an engaging demonstration station that showcases innovative vocational education to campus visitors and advisory boards.
b) How will you know the project was successful?
Success will be achieved when 100% of participating culinary cohorts complete an end-to-end bake and waste audit: accurately logging a cooking temperature curve, meeting all food safety criteria, and generating a digital yield report calculating scrap loss.
c) What evidence, observations, student work, or assessments will demonstrate impact?
- Digital Food Safety Logs: Time and temperature charts demonstrating safe food handling and sanitation compliance.
- Recipe Yield & Cost Worksheets: Student-calculated spreadsheets showing raw ingredient weights, usable yield percentages, and waste cost reductions.
- Industry-Standard Practical Rubrics: Hands-on evaluations scoring baking consistency, knife precision, portion accuracy, and kitchen sanitation.
Funding provides a multi-stage culinary telemetry workcell: an Easy-Bake Ultimate Oven for micro-scale thermodynamic modeling, wireless commercial-grade food core probes, a smart prep scale with an overhead wide-angle camera, and a dedicated NVIDIA Jetson Orin Nano edge processing node.
The Easy-Bake Oven serves as a cost-effective, low-wattage benchtop heating chamber where students run non-destructive browning trials without preheating high-draw commercial ovens. When paired with high-speed edge compute and wireless probes, students run sophisticated food-science experiments locally with zero cloud subscription fees.
The Jetson unit requested here is dedicated exclusively to this kitchen workcell's vision-based browning detection and waste categorization, and is separate from the Jetson units requested in our companion Silicon Glades proposals.
Budget Narrative:
- Easy-Bake Ultimate Oven ($50.00): Serves as a safe, low-cost micro-conveyor oven for continuous-bake experiments, heat transfer modeling, and dough caramelization testing.
- NVIDIA Jetson Orin Nano Developer Kit (8GB) + NVMe SSD ($554.00 total): The edge brain running computer-vision browning detection and food waste categorization in the kitchen.
- Multi-Probe Wireless Commercial Cooking Thermometer Array ($240.00): Real-time internal temperature logging for precision cooking and automated HACCP food-safety compliance.
- Benchtop Commercial Portion/Waste Scale with Digital Output ($210.00): High-precision digital scale to measure prep trimmings and evaluate true recipe yields.
- Overhead Stainless Arm & Wide-Angle Vision Camera ($145.00): Positions the camera safely over the prep scale and oven slot for hands-free image logging.
- Industrial Handheld Non-Contact IR / Surface Pyrometer ($125.00): Measures radiant heat transfer across baking surfaces and cooking vessels.
- Commercial Prep Cart & Spill-Proof Stainless Housing ($650.00): Mobile, sanitary stainless work station to mount the edge computer, display screen, and sensor rig safely in a kitchen environment.
NOTE: The Jetson unit requested here is dedicated exclusively to this kitchen workcell's vision-based browning detection and waste categorization, and is separate from the Jetson units requested in our companion Silicon Glades proposals.
Number of Students Benefiting:
- 40 to 60 Culinary Arts adult students annually will run lab practicums on this cart.
- 150+ cross-campus learners across accounting, hospitality, and IT will collaborate during food costing, inventory, and automated sorting workshops.
- Non-Consumable & Durable: Reusable, commercial-grade stainless and solid-state hardware engineered for years of culinary training.
The goal of this project is to increase students’ reading engagement, comprehension, vocabulary, and independence by providing a dedicated classroom collection of high-interest fiction and nonfiction books. Through access to SSYRA and Orange Blossom titles, students will have meaningful opportunities to choose books, practice literacy skills, participate in reading discussions, and make connections between texts and their classroom learning. This project will help students develop confidence and ownership as readers while fostering a lasting love of reading.
Students will actively use the classroom reading collection throughout the school year during independent reading, partner reading, small-group instruction, and whole-class activities. Students will be given opportunities to choose books based on their interests and level, encouraging them to take ownership of their reading and explore genres and topics they may not otherwise encounter.
The SSYRA books will provide engaging fiction and graphic novels that students can read and discuss with their peers. Students will participate in book discussions, make predictions and inferences, identify character traits and changes, determine themes, summarize texts, and use context clues to understand unfamiliar vocabulary. Students will also have opportunities to recommend books to classmates and share their thinking about books they have read.
The Orange Blossom nonfiction books will allow students to explore a variety of real-world topics while strengthening informational reading skills. Students will practice identifying main ideas and supporting details, asking and answering questions, determining the meaning of academic vocabulary, and making connections between their reading and science, social studies, and other content-area instruction.
I will incorporate these books into my instruction through teacher guided reading activities, small-group instruction, student discussions, written responses, and independent reading. Students will use the books as authentic texts to practice the reading strategies and skills taught in class.
By providing a wide variety of engaging books directly in the classroom, this project will create more opportunities for students to read, discuss, explore, and connect with texts. The collection will also remain in the classroom for future students, allowing the project to continue supporting literacy instruction and student engagement year after year.
This project will increase students’ engagement with reading while strengthening their comprehension, vocabulary, and ability to independently interact with a variety of texts. With access to a wider selection of high-interest fiction and nonfiction, I expect students to read more frequently, make more purposeful reading choices, and become more confident in discussing and responding to what they read.
Students will demonstrate growth in their ability to summarize texts, identify main ideas and themes, make inferences, understand unfamiliar vocabulary, analyze characters, and support their thinking with evidence from the text. The nonfiction collection will also help students build background knowledge and make meaningful connections between reading and content-area learning.
Success will be measured through teacher observations, student reading choices, reading responses, book discussions, classroom assignments, and literacy assessments. I will monitor students’ engagement with the collection and look for increased independence when selecting, reading, and discussing books.
Ultimately, this project will help students develop greater confidence and ownership as readers while fostering curiosity and a lasting enjoyment of reading. The collection will also remain in the classroom for future students, allowing the benefits of the project to continue beyond the current school year.
Grant funds will be used to purchase 44 high-interest fiction and nonfiction books at a total cost of $667.67, including shipping and estimated sales tax, for a dedicated classroom reading collection. The collection includes 14 SSYRA Junior titles, 15 SSYRA Grades 3–5 titles, and 15 Orange Blossom nonfiction titles. These books will directly benefit all 16 students in my classroom, and students in years to come.
The collection will provide students with consistent access to a variety of engaging texts that support literacy instruction. SSYRA titles will give students opportunities to practice skills such as summarizing, identifying theme, analyzing characters, making inferences, and determining the meaning of unfamiliar vocabulary. The Orange Blossom nonfiction titles will allow students to build background knowledge and practice identifying main ideas and supporting details while making connections to science, social studies, and other areas of learning.
Students will use these books during independent and partner reading, small-group instruction, book discussions, written responses, and classroom activities. Providing a wide variety of titles will also allow students to make meaningful choices based on their interests, encouraging greater independence, confidence, and engagement as readers.
This funding will create a lasting classroom resource rather than a one-time instructional activity. The books will remain part of the classroom library and continue to support future students, making this a sustainable investment in literacy, student engagement, and a lifelong love of reading.
667.67
SSYRA Junior Titles
204.35
Orange Blossom Nonfiction Titles
235.02
Shipping & Handling
4.49
Sales Tax
40.46
SSYRA Grades 3–5 Titles
183.35
Silicon Glades: Preparing Heavy Equipment Technicians for Tele-Operated & Autonomous Machinery with AWS DeepRacer & Jetson
a) What is the overall purpose of your project?
To introduce autonomous fleet navigation, remote machine telematics, and intelligent vehicle control to students in the Heavy Equipment Service Technician program. By deploying a fleet of three 1/18th-scale intelligent test vehicles and a dedicated edge telematics hub, adult learners will study, troubleshoot, and calibrate the exact type of autonomous navigation, electronic motor controls, and remote operating systems transforming modern heavy construction, mining, and agricultural machinery.
b) What need(s) does it address?
The heavy equipment industry is undergoing a massive shift. In modern civil construction, mining, and precision agriculture, manufacturers like Caterpillar, Komatsu, and John Deere are rapidly moving away from purely manual cab operations toward tele-operated and fully autonomous machinery. Modern field technicians can no longer rely solely on mechanical wrenches; they must diagnose electronic speed controllers, calibrate camera-based safety suites, evaluate steering drive-by-wire actuators, and interpret live data feeds streamed from unmanned machines. Because our students cannot safely experiment with autonomous control algorithms on 40-ton excavators, these smart scale platforms provide the essential hands-on training ground to master automated vehicle diagnostics safely in the classroom.
c) What learning goal, academic standard, or outcome does your project address?
This project aligns with the Florida Department of Education’s Heavy Equipment Service Technician curriculum framework (Program T440200 / Diesel Systems Technician), specifically targeting competencies in electrical and electronic systems diagnostics, electronic speed control, CAN-bus/telematics data logging, and advanced safety-system verification.
Students will:
- Inspect, diagnose, and calibrate electric drive linkages, digital steering servos, and high-discharge battery power systems.
- Configure and evaluate remote vehicle telemetry over local wireless data links to monitor vehicle speed, heading, and perimeter obstacles in real time.
- Analyze machine-learning navigation policies to understand how autonomous earth-moving and haulage fleets make pathing and collision-avoidance decisions.
d) How does this project connect to a school or district priority?
Directly aligns with Collier County Public Schools’ strategic focus on workforce development, regional industry relevance, and high-wage career placement. Southwest Florida’s commercial infrastructure, land development, and road construction industries rely heavily on skilled equipment technicians. Preparing our adult learners to service both mechanical components and next-generation autonomous telematics ensures our graduates lead the regional workforce. Aligns with iTECH Vision of empowering students through innovating hands-on training and our shared beliefs that instruction must represent current technology and practices and that instruction is meaningful when it is relevant to the students and incorporates current issues.
a) How will students actively participate?
Students will work in small mechanical and diagnostic teams. Learners will set up the vehicles' steering geometries, calibrate dual-camera vision arrays, manage onboard power distribution, and establish secure wireless data connections with the central shop workstation. Working trackside on a modular barrier course, students will monitor live data feeds, diagnose communication lag or steering drift, and test vehicle-response behaviors when unexpected obstacles enter the driving path.
b) How will this project meet the needs of your students, classroom, and/or school?
This grant bridges the physical mechanical systems in our heavy equipment bays with the campus-wide Silicon Glades initiative at iTECH. Our students already master diesel engines, hydraulics, and transmissions; this testbed provides the electronic and autonomous missing link. Using physical scale models allows every student to safely test drive-by-wire fail-safes and remote controls without safety risks or burning costly diesel fuel.
c) What teaching strategies or instructional activities will be used?
- Drive-by-Wire & Actuator Calibration Labs: Students adjust electronic steering trims, throttle response curves, and optical sensors to correct mechanical wander.
- Telematics & Remote Fleet Diagnostics: Teams track real-world machine data—evaluating how latency, battery drop, and sensor glare affect vehicle safety.
- Inter-Program Field Trials: Heavy equipment students host demonstration runs for IT, manufacturing, and automotive students, explaining the electro-mechanical principles behind autonomous steering and braking systems.
d) How will student participation connect to classroom instruction?
Connects directly to curriculum units covering heavy vehicle electrical schematics, electronic control modules (ECMs), sensor inputs, digital communication buses, and OSHA jobsite safety perimeter protocols. Small teams will rotate through structured workstations—one group running track trials, another inspecting vehicle battery health, and a third analyzing telemetry logs at the workstation.
a) What specific improvements do you expect for your students?
Future-Proofing Heavy Trade Careers: Many adult students in the Heavy Equipment program enter with mechanical aptitude but limited exposure to modern digital controls. Mastering intelligent vehicle platforms demystifies computerized machinery, giving our students the technical vocabulary, confidence, and practical diagnostic edge required to earn top-tier pay as modern field service technicians.
A Campus-Wide Cross-Disciplinary Bridge:
- Heavy Equipment & Automotive: Students gain practical troubleshooting experience with electric propulsion, electronic speed controllers, and automated safety systems.
- Information Technology: IT cohorts manage the wireless gateway and assist with telemetry logging, mirroring how IT and maintenance departments collaborate in modern industrial yards.
- Advanced Manufacturing: Demonstrates how automated guided haulers coordinate movement alongside sorting conveyors and warehouse workcells.
- Digital Media: Media students document live fleet demonstrations, producing high-impact technical reels for student portfolios and campus recruiting.
b) How will you know the project was successful?
Success will be achieved when 100% of participating student teams successfully calibrate a vehicle's steering and vision hardware, deploy an autonomous driving routine, and complete three consecutive track laps while maintaining lane safety boundaries and avoiding stationary obstacles.
c) What evidence, observations, student work, or assessments will demonstrate impact?
- Diagnostic Inspection Checklists: Industry-standard equipment checklists completed by students covering battery health, servo linkage alignment, and sensor calibration.
- Telematics Performance Reports: Printed or digital telemetry charts documenting lap completion consistency, wheel speeds, and obstacle detection reaction times.
- Technical Demonstration Rubrics: Practical evaluations measuring each student’s ability to explain the mechanical drive systems, safety interlocks, and remote controls to industry advisory members.
Purpose of Funding
The requested funds will acquire a three-vehicle autonomous scale platform fleet, high-capacity replacement batteries with a balance charger, a modular safety barrier system, an isolated low-latency wireless router, and a dedicated edge processing workstation with high-endurance storage. Sourced through verified educational/secondary surplus listings to maximize value, these rugged scale platforms provide a permanent, reusable testing lab that operates entirely on-site with zero recurring cloud subscription costs.
Budget Narrative
Direct Student Learning Impact:
- 3× Autonomous Scale Vehicles ($750 total): Provides a multi-vehicle fleet so students work in parallel teams, learning fleet tracking, vehicle spacing, and multi-machine coordination.
- 1× Dedicated Edge Telematics Workstation ($499): Functions as the shop floor "control tower," receiving live vehicle camera feeds, recording diagnostic logs, and displaying machine performance.
- 512GB Industrial High-Endurance NVMe SSD ($55): High-speed solid-state storage engineered to withstand the constant reading and writing of real-time telemetry data and video logs without system slowdowns.
- Dedicated Low-Latency Wi-Fi 6 Gateway ($145): Creates a secure, private communication network between the machines and the diagnostic station, ensuring smooth real-time control without network interference.
- High-Capacity Batteries, Multi-Bank Charger & Safety Track Barriers ($465 total): Essential hardware to run continuous classroom lab rotations without dead batteries, paired with modular borders to ensure safe, contained driving runs in the shop.
Number of Students Benefiting:
- 30 to 60 adult students annually in heavy equipment and automotive technician pathways will work hands-on with the fleet.
- 150+ cross-campus students will observe inter-program demonstrations illustrating how remote controls and automated fleets operate on modern jobsites.
- 100% Non-Consumable: Rugged, fully rebuildable mechanical platforms that will serve incoming student cohorts for years.
My goal is to create a classroom library with nominated Sunshine State Books for my students to check in and out for home.
Students will have the ability to check out Sunshine State books to bring home to read to friends and family. They can then take quizzes on these books which will build fluency, comprehension, vocabulary, and confidence .
The school creates incentives for students to read and test their knowledge on their reading. I will make it exciting and easy for my students to obtain these books and enjoy!
The purpose of funding is to give my students access to Sunshine State books that they can take home and enjoy. I will have majority of the 15 nominated books available for my students to use.
The goal of this project is to empower middle school art students to recognize the value of their creative abilities and explore how those abilities can translate into real-world entrepreneurial opportunities. Students will learn that artists are not limited to creating artwork for displays. Artists can also develop brands, design products, market ideas, and create tangible products for consumers. Through hands-on experiences in branding, design, production, and marketing, students will develop confidence in their creativity while building skills that can be applied beyond the art classroom.
Students will develop a personal brand that represents their individual interests, identities, strengths, and creative voices. They will design an original logo and use it to create branded merchandise, including custom T-shirts or canvas tote bags. Students will learn the design and production process using heat-transfer vinyl (HTV), HTV markers, and a heat press. In addition to creating physical products, students will explore digital and physical marketing strategies, considering how color, typography, imagery, and branding influence an audience and communicate a product's value. The project will combine traditional art making with technology, design thinking, problem solving, communication, and entrepreneurship, allowing students to experience the process of taking an idea from concept to finished consumer product.
Aligning the Florida BEST standards of 21st century skills, this project will help students develop creativity, communication, collaboration, critical thinking, problem solving, and entrepreneurial skills. These are all key competencies for success in the 21st century. Students will gain practical experience in personal branding, product design, marketing, and production while learning to view their artistic abilities as valuable skills with applications in the workforce and marketplace. The project also provides students with meaningful opportunities for choice and self-expression, helping them build confidence and ownership of their creative work. Most importantly, however, students will experience the satisfaction of transforming an original idea into a professionally finished, useable product.
Funding will provide the equipment and consumable materials necessary to bring this entrepreneurial art experience to life. A heat press will allow students to transfer their original designs onto finished products, while heat-transfer vinyl (HTV) and HTV markers will provide flexible options for creating detailed, personalized designs, T-shirts and canvas tote bags will serve as the products students design, produce, and potentially market as part of their projects. These materials will give students access to authentic production tools that would otherwise be unavailable in the classroom. The requested funding will create a sustainable, hands-on learning experience in which students can repeatedly practice the full creative process of developing an idea and establishing a brand to designing, producing, and marketing a finished product.
The goal of the Kindness Club at Corkscrew Elementary is to promote kindness by empowering students to lead by example and inspire positive change throughout our school community. Through acts of service, peer encouragement, and schoolwide initiatives, students will foster a culture of compassion, respect, and belonging, helping every student feel valued, supported, and connected.
Throughout the year, Kindness Club members lead a variety of schoolwide initiatives. Students welcome their peers with signs, smiles, and cheers during morning meetups, helping to create a positive start to the day. They spread joy by delivering inspirational messages to classrooms, create kindness rocks to display in our school garden, and organize a February Kindness Month challenge to encourage acts of kindness throughout the school.
In addition, club members participate in community service projects, including canned food and sock drives that support local families in need. Students also serve as role models for their peers by promoting kindness, respect, and empathy through their daily actions.
These activities provide students with meaningful leadership opportunities while helping to foster a welcoming, caring, and connected school culture where kindness is celebrated and practiced every day.
The Kindness Club at Corkscrew Elementary will benefit students by fostering a strong sense of connection, belonging, and community among their peers. Club members will gain valuable tools and experiences that empower them to spread kindness both within our school and beyond.
I am requesting $444.83 for supplies for the Corkscrew Elementary Kindness Club. This
includes purchasing T-shirts for each member to wear while spreading kindness around our
campus, painting rocks with inspirational messages to enhance our school garden, and
covering supplies needed for kindness challenges scheduled throughout the school year.
Shipping and taxes are included in the requested amount.
444.83
Kindness T. Shirts (20 total)
300
Be Kind and Shine Pencils (100 pieces)
19.99
Be Kind Wristbands (150 pieces )
26.99
Rocks (40 pieces)
22.95
Pink Astrobright Paper
19.95
Blue Astrobright Paper
19.95
Tax
35.00
Supplies for Learning About Properties of Matter and Changes in Matter Through Hands-On Experimentation
The goal of this project is to promote student knowledge of and engagement with science by purchasing supplies for practical, hands-on science experiments to be carried out following the Discovery Education curriculum and in accordance with Florida grade level standards. Research consistently has shown that students are more engaged and show better learning retention when information and skills are linked with experiential and project-based components such as science experiments, so having the materials necessary to carry out science experiments is essential for promoting student learning. The transition to the Discovery Education curriculum requires the purchase of new science experiment materials to support a rich, student-centered project-based education curriculum with a proven effect on student outcomes. Funding this project will help support the goal, previously articulated by administrators at both Collier County Schools and Marco Island Charter Middle School, of improving student performance on state science assessments through practical engagement with relevant science investigations.
Students will participate in integrated project-based concept sub-units centered around the use of hands-on experimentation to further student understanding of the physical world and acquire scientific skills and a scientific mindset. These concepts rely on practical experiments to build student knowledge, and require these experiments to be complete.
For instance, when studying the periodic table, students use collections of buttons, shells, or other objects with varying shapes and colors to create their own periodic tables, even identifying gaps in the table that represent combinations of shapes and colors that are not present in their collection, which helps them follow the process of early scientists investigating patterns in known chemical elements. Following this process helps them build confidence in their own scientific research skills and connect their knowledge of the periodic table to concrete experiential projects.
I expect that this project, if funded, will have the following measurable positive effects. First, it will promote student learning, which will be monitored through continual formative assessments, both those integrated into the Discovery Education curriculum and those designed by the teacher, as well as by post-concept summative assessments. Second, it will promote student engagement with and interest in science, which will have further downstream positive effects on high school and college performance, job success, and overall participation as American citizens. This engagement will be monitored by portions of the formative assessments, as well as the teacher's own professional impressions of student interest and engagement.
If funded, this project will support approximately 90 students, primarily in the 8th grade, in understanding science through connections between experimental research and proven concepts from state curriculum standards. Every listed item is directly tied to a specific experiment in Discovery Education that serves as the linchpin of an entire concept sub-unit, with the experiment providing the experiential component that helps draw a line between observations of a phenomenon made in the first lesson of the concept to a student-driven explanation provided in the later lessons of the concept.
Project Purpose:
a) What is the overall purpose of your project?
The purpose of this project to to provide easy and fun access to learning the alphabet, reading, and spelling.
b) What need(s) does it address?
Our PK-5th grade students in the IBI2 and PK-D programs love movement and hands-on learning. This project provides a chance for the students to stand and move along our classroom magnetic boards as they manipulate the easy-to-hold large, colorful, magnetic foam letters.
c) What learning goal, academic standard, or outcome does your project address?
All of our students have IEP goals involving matching letters (upper/lower case), identifying CVC words, or reading/spelling.
d) How does this project connect to a school or district priority?
Our school is working to increase our state test scores for our students in ESE programs.
a) How will students actively participate?
Our students will use these letters as a choice during independent rotations or as a manipulative during one to one work with teachers and paraprofessionals.
b) How will this project meet the needs of your students, classroom, and or/school?
Our students need a variety of visual, auditory, and tactile ways to help engage in learning the foundations of literacy.
Expected Outcomes:
a) What specific improvements do you expect for your students?
Student improvement in letter identification and matching and short word reading and spelling is expected. Independent play skills will also increase.
b) How will you know the project was successful?
Project success may be measured in increased IEP goal progress.
c) What evidence, observations, student work, or assessments will demonstrate impact?
Evidence of project success may be demonstrated in student engagement and requests for activity, IEP progress reports, and school report cards.
Purpose of Funding, specifically:
a) Explain how the requested items directly support student learning and project goals.
Other magnetic, soft letters sold are smaller and may present a choking hazard or easily broken. These particular letters are 5 inches tall and made of sturdy foam.
b) How many students will benefit from the project?
Our four IBI2 and PK-D classes currently have 26 students. We typically gain more younger students throughout the school year.
Kindergarten is a year of tremendous growth! My students are learning how to become readers while also learning how to be successful members of our classroom community.
The goal of Paws for Progress! is to motivate and celebrate students as they make progress toward reading goals and demonstrate positive behavior. Desk pets and other small incentives will give students something fun to work toward as they learn new skills, make good choices, show kindness, work hard, and persevere when something is difficult.
I want my students to understand that progress is something to be proud of and that their effort and choices make a difference.
Students will have opportunities throughout the year to earn desk pets(small eraser animals), accessories, and other small prizes for meeting reading goals and demonstrating our school PBIS expectations.
Reading goals will be appropriate for each stage of kindergarten. Students may be celebrated for mastering letters and sounds, learning sight words, using phonics skills to read new words, or reaching individual reading milestones on iReady. This allows every child to experience success while still being challenged to keep growing.
Students will also be recognized for positive classroom choices such as showing kindness, being responsible, following directions, helping others, working hard, and persevering.
Desk pets will add an element of fun that is especially exciting for five- and six-year-olds. Students can earn a pet and continue working toward accessories and other small rewards as they make progress throughout the year.
Young children love to celebrate their accomplishments! Paws for Progress! will help students see that their hard work, good choices, and reading growth are noticed and valued.
The incentives will give students an extra reason to keep trying, especially when a new reading skill or classroom expectation is challenging. Just as importantly, this project allows me to focus attention on the positive things happening in our classroom and celebrate progress rather than expecting perfection.
I will monitor student progress through reading assessments, sight-word and phonics checks, individual reading goals, PBIS expectations, and classroom observations.
My hope is that students will become excited about reaching their next goal and experience the pride of being able to say, “I did it!”
These grant funds will be used to purchase desk pets, desk pet accessories, reading incentives, and small age-appropriate prizes.
These incentives will be used throughout the school year to celebrate students for reaching reading goals, demonstrating positive behavior, showing perseverance, and making choices that help our classroom be a happy and successful place to learn.
The rewards may be small, but for a kindergartener, they can make reaching a new goal feel very big!
419.74
animal erasers 8 packs
143.84
incentive prize kits 4
119.96
pencils, bookmarks, notebooks, fidgets
131.96
tax
23.98
Reading Comes Alive: Making Connections Beyond the Pages
My goal is simply to make reading to come alive for my students. Throughout our fourth-grade reading series, we read stories that take us to different places, introduce us to new cultures, and teach important lessons about friendship, perseverance, identity, and understanding others.
I'd love for my students to do more than read these stories and answer questions about them. I want them to make connections, create, experience, and remember what they have read. This project will provide hands-on materials that help turn the stories we read into meaningful experiences students can connect to long after we finish the last page.
The materials in this project will be used throughout our reading modules in different ways. Markers and chart paper will help students create character posters, infographics, and collaborative projects. Sticky notes will allow students to track their thinking and collect text evidence to defend their responses.
Other materials will connect directly to the stories we read. When we read My Diary From Here to There, students can write in diaries of their own. Friendship bracelets will help students creatively represent themes found throughout our literature.
A world map and location stickers will allow us to track our reading journey around the world. Students can see where the stories and cultures we learn about originate—from the Chinese and Taiwanese culture represented in The Year of the Rat to East Africa in Kitoto the Mighty, St. Augustine, natural wonders, and many more places we will discover through reading.
Even our Food for Thought module can become an experience! After learning about cultures where insects are eaten, students who choose to participate can try edible bug lollipops and make a memorable real-world connection to the text.
The requested funds will purchase markers, chart paper, sticky notes, student diaries, friendship-bracelet supplies, a world map and location stickers, edible bug lollipops, and small Real Reader Rewards for student achievement, growth, and creativity.
These may seem like simple classroom materials, but in the hands of students, they become powerful learning tools. A map turns a story into a journey. A diary helps students understand perspective. A sticky note helps a child prove an answer with evidence. A hands-on project can make a theme finally click.
Most importantly, these materials will help my students connect what they are reading to the world around them. I want them to leave fourth grade remembering not only the stories we read, but where those stories took them, what they taught them, and how reading made the world feel a little bigger.
Funding will be used to purchase:
Markers, chart paper, and classroom creation supplies for collaborative character posters, infographics, text-structure displays, theme projects, and visual responses to reading.
Student diaries/journals to accompany My Diary From Here to There and provide an authentic connection between reading and writing.
Friendship-bracelet materials for creative projects connecting colors, words, and designs to literary themes, character development, and important messages within texts.
A classroom world map and location stickers to track the settings, cultures, historical locations, and origins of stories we encounter throughout the year.
Edible insect-themed lollipops to create a memorable real-world connection during our Food for Thought module and its exploration of foods eaten in different cultures.
Sticky notes for students to annotate their thinking, collect evidence, identify relevant details, and defend their responses during daily reading instruction.
Small Real Reader Rewards to recognize achievement, growth, effort, and creativity on Module Assessments and reading projects.
277.89
Crayola Broad Line Markers (12pk)
11.88
180 Highlighters No Bleed Through 6 Assorted Colors
34.99
Post-it Super Sticky Notes 24 pads
16.99
Chart Paper Post-it Super Sticky Notes 4 pack
59.78
Student Diaries 50 pack
31.29
Friendship Bracelets
12.99
Landmass Scratch off World Map, Deluxe Travel Tracker
Kindergarten students have so much to say! The goal of Toss, Talk & Learn! is to encourage every student to participate, share ideas, answer questions, and build confidence speaking in front of others.
A tossable microphone will turn classroom discussions into something students are excited to join. Instead of always calling on students one at a time, I can toss the microphone to a student to answer a question, share an idea, read a word, or explain their thinking. Students can then toss it to another classmate to continue the conversation.
My goal is to give every child more opportunities to use their voice while practicing the literacy, math, listening, and speaking skills we work on every day.
The Qball is a soft, tossable wireless microphone that students can catch, speak into, and pass to another student. It will be used throughout our kindergarten day to make learning more interactive and fun.
During reading, students might catch the microphone to answer a question about a story, make a prediction, practice a sight word, identify a letter sound, or retell part of a book. During math, students can use it to give an answer, count, explain how they solved a problem, or describe a pattern.
We can also use the microphone during morning meetings, sharing time, phonics lessons, science discussions, and classroom games.
For kindergarten students who are sometimes hesitant to raise their hands or speak in front of the class, catching the microphone makes participating feel more like a game. It gives students a fun reason to take a chance and share what they know.
Toss, Talk & Learn! will give students more opportunities to actively participate instead of simply listening to the teacher.
Students will practice speaking clearly, listening to classmates, taking turns, answering questions, and explaining their thinking. It will also allow me to quickly hear what students know and identify skills that may need additional practice.
I will see the impact of the project through student participation, classroom observations, student responses, and students' increasing willingness and ability to share their thinking.
Most importantly, I want every child in my classroom—even my quietest students—to learn that their ideas are important and their voice deserves to be heard.
Grant funds will be used to purchase one Qball PRO Throwable Wireless Microphone System for approximately $249.
The microphone will be used across our kindergarten curriculum throughout the school years during reading, phonics, math, science, morning meetings, classroom discussions, and other learning activities. Because it can be used again and again in so many areas of our day, all students will have frequent opportunities to benefit from the project.
To stretch reading stamina and comprehension by challenging 2nd-grade students to read above-level chapter books from the standard SSYRA (Grades 3-5) list, empowering them to transition into complex narratives and build advanced literacy skills.
This literacy initiative provides a dedicated classroom set of age-appropriate chapter books from the official Sunshine State Young Readers Award (SSYRA Grades 3–5) list to challenge and enrich second-grade students. While these titles are traditionally targeted at upper-elementary grades, they serve as an excellent enrichment tool for motivated second graders—scaffolding their transition into complex, multi-chapter narratives, expanding their academic vocabulary, and building advanced reading endurance.
This project yields significant academic and developmental advantages for second-grade students. By introducing the SSYRA Grades 3–5 list via dedicated classroom sets, the initiative achieves the following core benefits:
- Chapter Book Transition: Moving from picture books or early readers to complex, multi-chapter novels can be daunting. This project provides a structured environment that bridges that gap before students enter the third grade.
-Exposure to above-grade-level texts introduces rich, context-driven vocabulary
-The structured challenge of reading multiple books to earn a vote in the statewide election teaches students how to set, track, and achieve long-term academic benchmarks.
Funding is requested to purchase paired classroom text sets (two copies per title) for eight select introductory-level chapter books and graphic novels from the official Sunshine State Young Readers Award (SSYRA Grades 3–5) list.
151.58
Forever Ripley x2
20.00
Growing Home x2
20.00
J vs K x2
17.22
Punycorn x2
26.00
Queen of the Sea x2
12.00
The Bug Bandits
16.52
Curveball
21.84
The House at the Edge of Magic x2
18.00
IMPROV to Impact: Building Communication Skills for Students with Autism
Autism Collier Charter School (ACCS) is committed to creating a supportive and engaging learning environment in which students with autism are encouraged to discover their strengths, build meaningful connections, and develop the skills they need to be successful both in school and in their communities. While academic growth is an important part of our students’ education, we also recognize the importance of developing communication, confidence, social-emotional skills, problem-solving, collaboration, and the ability to adapt to new situations.
Through this grant, ACCS would partner with The Naples Players (TNP) to introduce structured improvisational activities as an engaging and accessible way for students to practice and strengthen these essential skills. A TNP teaching artist would visit ACCS throughout the school year for a total of seven sessions, working with selected classroom groups in collaboration with their teachers. Autistic children benefit from better communication skills because it helps them share their basic needs, lower frustration and stress, connect with other people, and learn better at school. When children can express what they think or feel, they do not have to rely on hard behaviors like tantrums or crying to show what is wrong.
A key component of this partnership would be tailoring each session to the individual needs of the students. Prior to each visit, classroom teachers would identify specific areas in which their students could benefit from additional support. TNP instructors would then incorporate those goals into developmentally appropriate improvisational activities. Depending on the needs of each group, sessions may focus on building confidence, expressing ideas, communicating with others, working as a team, thinking flexibly, solving problems, or navigating social interactions.
Our goal is to create an experience in which students can practice important life and learning skills in a fun, supportive, and low-pressure setting. Improvisation encourages students to take appropriate risks, listen to others, respond in the moment, and recognize that there can be more than one way to approach a situation. By bringing this unique partnership to ACCS, we hope to give students another meaningful avenue for developing skills that will enhance their participation in the classroom, strengthen their relationships with others, and support their continued growth beyond the school setting.
During each Improv session, a group of students will participate in an interactive 1-hour workshop led by an instructor from The Naples Players. The classroom group will be selected based on identified student needs, allowing the program to provide more targeted support throughout the year. Each workshop will utilize some of the five basic skills of improv: listening, accepting, supporting, problem solving, and storytelling
Students will participate in fun and interactive games at their own level, displaying quick thinking creative skills and then expanding upon them. Sessions will use structured improv games, role-playing, storytelling, and collaborative exercises to give students opportunities to practice communication and social-emotional skills in an environment that is fun, active, and supportive. Students will practice listening to one another, expressing ideas, responding to unexpected situations, working collaboratively, taking appropriate risks, and solving problems together.
Improv games incorporate movement, imagination, sustained attention, and observation skills. Students will participate in these activities in their classrooms alongside their teachers. This “together” approach allows both students and teachers to fully immerse themselves in the experience and provides teachers with strategies they can reinforce throughout the school year.
Teachers will communicate with the team at The Naples Players about areas of need before sessions so that activities can be responsive to individual students/groups. Teachers can then reinforce strategies and concepts introduced during the workshops as students encounter similar situations in the classroom, group work, and less structured social settings.
An improvisation program would provide students with autism a unique and engaging opportunity to strengthen communication, social interaction, problem-solving, and self-advocacy skills in a supportive and inclusive environment. Through structured improvisational activities, students would practice listening, turn-taking, initiating conversations, expressing ideas, interpreting social cues, responding to others, and communicating their thoughts and needs.
Improvisation also naturally develops flexible thinking and problem-solving. Because students cannot always predict what will happen next, they learn to adapt to unexpected situations, consider multiple solutions, make decisions, and respond appropriately when circumstances change. These skills are particularly important for students preparing for greater independence, employment, and participation in their communities.
Working with an experienced improvisation instructor would allow students to learn these skills through meaningful, hands-on experiences rather than solely through traditional classroom instruction. Students would have opportunities to practice real-world scenarios such as job interviews, communicating with coworkers and supervisors, resolving conflicts, asking for assistance, advocating for themselves and navigating unfamiliar situations.
In addition to communication and social development, improvisation can promote self-confidence, creativity, emotional expression, perspective-taking, resilience, and a willingness to take appropriate risks. Students learn that there is not always one "right" answer and that mistakes can be opportunities to try again. This can help students become more comfortable with uncertainty and develop greater confidence in their ability to handle new situations.
Most importantly, improvisation creates opportunities for students to experience success with their peers. By creating scenes and solving problems together, students develop a greater sense of belonging, cooperation, and connection. The skills developed through improvisation can extend beyond the classroom and support students as they pursue employment, independent living, community participation, friendships, and greater self-determination.
An improvisation program would therefore serve not simply as an arts enrichment opportunity, but as a practical and engaging component of a comprehensive academic and transition program designed to prepare students with autism for successful, meaningful adult lives.
Grant funds of $1750.00 will support seven one-hour sessions (total 7 hours), delivered once a month for seven months. customized workshops led by a teaching artist from The Naples Players throughout the school year. The cost includes instructor travel time, pre-workshop conferencing with ACCS teachers to identify student and classroom goals, and preparation time to develop lessons and select or create improv games and activities tailored to each group’s needs. This investment allows each workshop to be intentionally designed to strengthen targeted skills such as communication, confidence, collaboration, flexible thinking, and problem-solving so that students can benefit from targeted sessions.
1750
Session 1 (TNP instructor will consult, plan, travel, and lead a one hour workshop for students)
250
Session 2 (TNP instructor will consult, plan, travel, and lead a one hour workshop for students)
250
Session 3 (TNP instructor will consult, plan, travel, and lead a one hour workshop for students)
250
Session 4 (TNP instructor will consult, plan, travel, and lead a one hour workshop for students)
250
Session 5 (TNP instructor will consult, plan, travel, and lead a one hour workshop for students)
250
Session 6 (TNP instructor will consult, plan, travel, and lead a one hour workshop for students)
250
Session 7 (TNP instructor will consult, plan, travel, and lead a one hour workshop for students)
250
Color is Life! Let's Paint Like Alma Woodsy Thomas
The goal of this project is for Kindergarten and First Grade artists to create a work art using vibrant color fields inspired by the work of the famous abstract artist, Alma Thomas. Artists will integrate the Elements of Art and Principles of Design, focusing on color, line, shape and pattern. Another goal is to use sequential processes and procedures as means of self expression, resulting in a unique, creative work of art.
Using solid tempera paint sticks artists will begin with a dashed line on their paper creating a small circle or heart. They will then choose various colors of paint sticks to create concentric dashed lines around their original shape.
Alma Thomas said, "Color is life! Through color I have sought to concentrate on beauty and happiness, rather than on man's inhumanity to man." Each year when kindergarten students enter the art room they are taken by a poster of Alma Thomas' art work titled Eclipse. They tell me they want to paint like that. A great benefit of this project is that young artists feel and express joy and happiness through concentration, color and line. They are proud to see their work displayed in the media center and office-sharing the their joy with others. They also benefit from hands on learning about pattern, color, shape that cross into other academic studies such as mathematics and science.
Thank you for your consideration for funding the solid tempera paint for this project. The art department budget covers basic art supplies. However, for this project I would like to use a specialty product, Kwik Stix solid tempera. This product enables young artists to explore various tools/media and these paints are especially vibrant and easy to apply nature. The result is an awe inspiring piece of self expression for each young artist!
105.00
6 sets of 2 multi color packs or Kwik Stix solid tempera paint
105.00
Experimental Supplies for Learning About Changes in Matter and Astronomy in Discovery Education
The goal of this project is to promote student knowledge of and engagement with science by purchasing supplies for practical, hands-on science experiments to be carried out following the Discovery Education curriculum and in accordance with Florida grade level standards. Research consistently has shown that students are more engaged and show better learning retention when information and skills are linked with experiential and project-based components such as science experiments, so having the materials necessary to carry out science experiments is essential for promoting student learning. The transition to the Discovery Education curriculum requires the purchase of new science experiment materials to support a rich, student-centered project-based education curriculum with a proven effect on student outcomes. Funding this project will help support the goal, previously articulated by administrators at both Collier County Schools and Marco Island Charter Middle School, of improving student performance on state science assessments through practical engagement with relevant science investigations.
Students will participate in integrated project-based concept sub-units centered around the use of hands-on experimentation to further student understanding of the physical world and acquire scientific skills and a scientific mindset. These concepts rely on practical experiments to build student knowledge and require these experiments to be complete.
For instance, when studying the periodic table, students use collections of buttons, shells, or other objects with varying shapes and colors to create their own periodic tables, even identifying gaps in the table that represent combinations of shapes and colors that are not present in their collection, which helps them follow the process of early scientists investigating patterns in known chemical elements. Following this process helps them build confidence in their own scientific research skills and connect their knowledge of the periodic table to concrete experiential projects.
I expect that this project, if funded, will have the following measurable positive effects. First, it will promote student learning, which will be monitored through continual formative assessments, both those integrated into the Discovery Education curriculum and those designed by the teacher, as well as by post-concept summative assessments. Second, it will promote student engagement with and interest in science, which will have further downstream positive effects on high school and college performance, job success, and overall participation as American citizens. This engagement will be monitored by portions of the formative assessments, as well as the teacher's own professional impressions of student interest and engagement.
If funded, this project will support approximately 90 students, primarily in the 8th grade, in understanding science through connections between experimental research and proven concepts from state curriculum standards. Every listed item is directly tied to a specific experiment in Discovery Education that serves as the linchpin of an entire concept sub-unit, with the experiment providing the experiential component that helps draw a line between observations of a phenomenon made in the first lesson of the concept to a student-driven explanation provided in the later lessons of the concept.
453.29
Calcium chloride
18.68
Indicator solution
25.59
128 ounces of vinegar
12.99
26 ounces of sodium chloride
5.47
10 ounces of green food coloring
14.19
300 coffee filters
9.90
500 cotton swabs
7.97
100 foam balls
18.99
350 feet of string
4.59
90 marbles
5.99
100 plastic balls
18.99
Diffraction grating slide
19.50
32 metric rulers
9.99
6 small lamps
60.00
1 pound of instant yeast
7.98
1 pound of dried beans
24.49
Soft measuring tape
7.99
500 paper plates
29.99
Overflow margin for cost increases
150.00
Ready to Create: Accessible Drawing Tools for Every Artist
The goal of this project is to make drawing materials more accessible and ready to use for every student who comes into my art room. With approximately 600 K–5 students sharing supplies, pencils and colored pencils are some of our most-used materials. I want students to have reliable pencils, sharpening options throughout the room, and drawing tools that meet a variety of student needs. Most importantly, I want to reduce time spent waiting in line to sharpen pencils so that our limited art time can be spent actually creating.
Students will use graphite and colored pencils throughout the year for drawing, sketching, planning, shading, and completing finished artwork. These are basic tools that we use across nearly every grade level and art unit.
This project will also help me create multiple sharpening stations throughout the art room. Small electric sharpeners will be available at student tables so students can take care of their own materials without getting up and waiting in line at one classroom sharpener. Larger electric sharpeners will help handle the heavy daily use that comes with approximately 600 students sharing an art room.
An important part of my classroom is teaching students to take ownership of their supplies and workspaces. I like putting students in charge of their own table supplies and stations so they learn how to use materials responsibly, keep their area organized, and solve small problems independently. Having sharpening options available at their tables gives students another opportunity to practice that responsibility and autonomy while taking care of the tools they use every day.
Students will also have access to different types of drawing tools. The larger triangular colored pencils are easier to hold and will provide another option for students who benefit from a larger, more comfortable grip. Additional colored pencils, including pink pencils that are currently very limited in our shared classroom sets, will give students more choices when creating their artwork.
One of the biggest benefits of this project is protecting instructional time. Art classes are limited, and something as simple as a line of students waiting for the pencil sharpener can quickly take away from the time we have to create. Providing sharpening options at individual tables will allow students to take care of their materials independently and get back to work.
This project also supports one of my goals for the art room: teaching students to take ownership of their supplies and workspaces. Students are responsible for helping manage their table supplies and stations, which gives them opportunities to practice independence, organization, responsibility, and care for shared materials. Having the tools they need available at their stations allows them to solve small problems on their own instead of always relying on the teacher.
These materials will also make our classroom more accessible. Not every student is most successful using the same tool. The larger triangular colored pencils provide an alternative for students who benefit from a larger, more comfortable grip, while different sharpening options make materials easier for students to manage independently.
Finally, these supplies will help keep our most frequently used art materials functional. I have already had two pencil sharpeners break this school year, which has shown me just how much use this equipment receives in an art room serving approximately 600 students. Having several sharpening options will help distribute that daily use instead of relying on one machine for every student.
Grant funding will be used to purchase graphite pencils, colored pencils, easy-to-hold triangular colored pencils, and several types of pencil sharpeners for the K–5 art room.
Nine small electric sharpeners will provide a sharpening option at student tables. This will reduce unnecessary movement and lines during class while also supporting our classroom station system. Students are taught to take responsibility for the supplies at their tables, keep their stations organized, and care for the materials they share. Giving students access to the tools they need at their own stations helps them practice those skills and work more independently.
Larger electric sharpeners will help handle the amount of daily use that comes with approximately 600 students sharing an art room. I have already had two sharpeners break this school year, so having multiple durable sharpening options will help distribute the workload and keep students working when one sharpener is occupied or unavailable. Handheld dual-hole sharpeners will provide an additional flexible option for students and different pencil sizes.
Funding will also provide pre-sharpened #2 pencils and classroom sets of colored pencils that students will use directly for drawing, sketching, planning, shading, and finished artwork. The triangular colored pencils provide a larger, easier-to-hold option for students who benefit from additional grip support.
Together, these materials will help students take greater ownership of their classroom supplies, work more independently, and have access to drawing tools that meet different needs. Most importantly, they will help protect our limited instructional time so students can spend more of art class actually creating.
604
AFMAT Fully Automatic Electric Pencil Sharpeners — Qty. 3
My goal is to ensure that when students are rewarded for positive behavior that there are plenty of books for them to choose from in our school's book vending machine.
Students earn vending tokens for showing positive behaviors and reaching individualized reading goals. After earning a token, the student can go to the vending machine and select a book. I am requesting a variety of books for all ages to ensure that there is always something in the machine to appeal to any one of our students.
Reading should be fun, not a chore or an assignment. Students work hard to earn the tokens and are so excited to ''buy'' a book from the machine. It has been a huge motivator!
Many of our students come from homes where English is a second language. Books printed in English can be scarce. This program helps us to help our students build a home library with books that they can read and share with their family.
This money will allow me to replenish stock the machine with approximately 60 new books.
a) What is the overall purpose of your project?
To introduce autonomous inventory cycle counting, shrinkage analysis, and digital balance sheet reconciliation into the Accounting Operations and Business programs. By utilizing a mobile autonomous robotic platform (the TurtleBot 4) equipped with spatial vision, LiDAR, and asset-scanning capabilities, adult accounting students will bridge physical warehouse stock with digital general ledgers—mastering how automated inventory feeds drive modern corporate balance sheets.
b) What need(s) does it address?
In modern distribution centers, retail enterprises, and commercial warehouses, companies no longer halt operations for an entire weekend once a year to perform manual clipboard inventory counts. Instead, autonomous mobile robots navigate supply aisles during off-hours to conduct automated perpetual cycle counts. Accounting professionals today must do far more than balance static ledgers by hand; they must evaluate live data feeds, reconcile physical stock variances against book inventory, investigate shrinkage, and manage capital asset depreciation models. Our adult students currently master accounting spreadsheets and software on desktop computers, but lack hands-on experience with the automated physical data collection tools that modern logistics and business facilities rely on.
c) What learning goal, academic standard, or outcome does your project address?
This project aligns directly with the Florida Department of Education’s Accounting Operations curriculum framework (Program B070110 / CIP 0552030202), specifically addressing standards in inventory valuation methods (FIFO, LIFO, Weighted Average), internal control procedures, asset depreciation, and automated ledger entries.
Students will:
- Conduct automated perpetual cycle counts using an autonomous mobile unit to audit physical stock against digital general ledger records.
- Perform variance and shrinkage analyses by investigating discrepancies between scanned shelf assets and book inventory.
- Model capital equipment lifecycle costs by tracking the mobile robot's operating hours, battery charge cycles, maintenance wear, and depreciation over time.
d) How does this project connect to a school or district priority?
Directly aligns with Collier County Public Schools’ strategic commitment to workforce readiness, emerging business technologies, and high-wage career pathways. Southwest Florida's rapid commercial growth in logistics, warehousing, and corporate supply chains demands accounting graduates who understand modern Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) integrations and automated internal controls.
Aligns with iTECH's Vision of "empowering students through innovating hands-on training" and our shared beliefs that "instruction must represent current technology and practices" and that "instruction is meaningful when it is relevant to the students and incorporates current issues."
a) How will students actively participate?
Students will operate in business auditing teams. Teams will program the mobile robot to follow scheduled audit routes through classroom mock-warehouse supply shelves and campus stock rooms. As the robot traverses the aisles, its onboard perception array logs physical inventory items. Students will export the recorded counts directly into accounting software, compare physical quantities to recorded book figures, identify cost variances, and calculate adjustments for inventory shrinkage, spoilage, or misplacement.
Given the single-unit platform, student teams will rotate through structured mission blocks on a scheduled sign-up basis: Prior teams' generated data will be reviewed by the next
team, so that a growing data repository builds cumulatively across the term.
b) How will this project meet the needs of your students, classroom, and/or school?
This project connects textbook accounting principles directly to tangible physical operations. The mobile robot transforms abstract inventory valuation lessons into an active audit simulation. Furthermore, the robot serves as a tangible capital asset study: students maintain a live fixed-asset register that records the unit’s operational run-time, battery depletion rates, routine maintenance costs, and book depreciation.
c) What teaching strategies or instructional activities will be used?
- Perpetual Cycle-Count Auditing: Students dispatch the autonomous unit on scheduled audit routes to generate automated stock logs without manual intervention.
- Shrinkage & Variance Investigations: Teams analyze mismatches between physical shelf data and the general ledger, determining whether discrepancies stem from unrecorded sales, scrap, or miscounts.
- Fixed-Asset Cost Modeling: Cohorts calculate straight-line and accelerated depreciation schedules based on the robot's real-world hours in service and charging logs.
d) How will student participation connect to classroom instruction?
Directly reinforces program benchmarks in merchandise inventory management, financial statement preparation, internal auditing, and operational cost accounting. Small accounting teams will rotate through structured audit cycles, allowing each cohort to plan an audit route, review discrepancy logs, and post the adjusting journal entries.
a) What specific improvements do you expect for your students?
Modernizing Business Skills for High-Wage Careers: Many adult students in our Accounting program are working toward upward mobility in local corporate offices and logistics management. Gaining hands-on familiarity with automated inventory tracking elevates our students from traditional clerks to tech-enabled business analysts who can manage automated ERP data streams and internal control systems.
A Campus-Wide Cross-Disciplinary Catalyst:
- Accounting & Business Operations: Students gain practical mastery over perpetual inventory systems, automated auditing workflows, and physical-to-book reconciliation.
- Advanced Manufacturing: The robot interfaces with our Logistics Skill Boss sortation conveyor, transporting diverter-sorted items to designated stock racks and immediately logging the transfer into digital ledgers.
- Information Technology: IT cohorts configure the robot’s wireless connectivity and local data endpoints, giving accounting students a realistic model of corporate IT/finance collaboration.
- Machining & Automotive: Manufacturing students can fabricate custom clipboard/scanner brackets or payload trays for the robot, showing how production supports business operations.
b) How will you know the project was successful?
Success will be achieved when 100% of participating accounting cohorts successfully execute an automated cycle-count audit, identify induced inventory discrepancies, calculate the financial impact, and post the correct adjusting ledger entries.
c) What evidence, observations, student work, or assessments will demonstrate impact?
- Inventory Audit Workpapers: Comprehensive audit reports documenting shelf counts, book counts, variance dollar values, and root-cause shrinkage findings.
- Adjusting General Journal Entries: Student-prepared financial entries adjusting merchandise inventory and recording inventory write-offs.
- Fixed-Asset Depreciation Schedules: Complete lifecycle ledgers detailing the robot's operating costs, accumulated depreciation, and net book value.
Purpose of Funding
Funding will acquire one complete Clearpath Robotics TurtleBot 4 Lite Mobile Robot Platform (including the iRobot Create 3 mobile base, onboard compute, 360-degree laser LiDAR, and automatic self-charging dock), paired with industrial-grade high-speed storage, auxiliary battery power, a diagnostic interface kit, and a protective rolling transport case. This standardized, non-consumable physical asset runs entirely on-premises with zero recurring cloud subscription fees. It provides a permanent, reusable inventory auditing testbed that will train incoming business and accounting cohorts year after year.
Budget Narrative
Direct Student Learning Alignment:
- Clearpath TurtleBot 4 Lite Mobile Robot Platform ($1,572.00): Provides the mobile base, precision navigation sensors, and optical perception needed to simulate automated warehouse inventory cycle counts and asset tracking.
- Integrated Autonomous Charging Dock (Included): Allows students to track charging cycles, power consumption, and operating efficiency for capital asset cost modeling. 2×
- Industrial High-Endurance MicroSDXC Cards (128GB) ($68.00 total): Provides high-reliability local data storage to record audit logs and ensure uninterrupted classroom operation.
- High-Capacity Auxiliary Power Bank & PD Output ($95.00): Ensures the mobile unit can run continuous, extended inventory sweeping sessions across multiple campus rooms without battery depletion.
- Heavy-Duty Weatherproof Rolling Transport Case ($145.00): Enables safe, secure transport of the auditing unit between business classrooms, campus stockrooms, and regional showcase events.
- High-Throughput Diagnostic Hub & Low-Profile Cables ($100.00): Connects external scanning devices and offloads inventory audit records directly into student accounting computers.
Number of Students Benefiting:
- 40 to 60 post-secondary business and accounting students annually will conduct hands-on auditing and asset-management labs with the unit.
- Over 200+ cross-campus students in logistics, manufacturing, and IT will engage during cross-departmental supply chain exercises.
- 100% Non-Consumable: Rugged, serviceable equipment built for years of continuous classroom service
1980
Clearpath Robotics TurtleBot 4 Lite Mobile Robot Platform
1572
2-Industrial High-Endurance MicroSDXC Card (128GB, Class 10/A2/U3)
68
High-Capacity Auxiliary Power Bank & PD Output Module (24,000mAh)
95
Heavy-Duty Weatherproof Rolling Mobile Transport Case with Pick-and-Pluck Foam
145
High-Throughput USB-C / USB 3.2 Diagnostic Hub & Low-Profile Cables
100
Silicon Glades: 3D Volumetric Imaging & Digital Styling Portfolios in Cosmetology
a) What is the overall purpose of your project?
To bring professional 360-degree volumetric imaging and interactive 3D modeling into the Cosmetology program. By utilizing a specialized rotating capture turntable, high-definition camera, balanced diffuse studio lighting, and dedicated processing hardware, adult cosmetology students will transform physical mannequin work, hair designs, and aesthetic services into interactive 3D digital portfolios that can be viewed from every angle.
b) What need(s) does it address?
The modern beauty, salon, and personal care industry has moved far beyond flat 2D social media photos. Top salons, high-end spas, and editorial agencies evaluate stylists through multi-dimensional portfolios, virtual consultations, and digital styling showcases. When students photograph complex hair layering, bridal updos, precision fades, or dimensional color on flat phone screens, critical details—like silhouette balance, blending, and symmetry—get flattened or lost in harsh salon lighting. Our adult learners master practical chemical application, cutting, and styling, but lack professional studio lighting and automated capture equipment to showcase their artistry in complete 3D for clients, competition judges, and salon employers.
c) What learning goal, academic standard, or outcome does your project address?
This project aligns with the Florida Department of Education’s Cosmetology curriculum framework (Program I120404 / CIP 0612040102), specifically supporting state competencies in Hair Shaping (Course COS0003), Hair Styling (Course COS0009), Salon Management, and Employability Skills.
Students will:
- Evaluate haircut balance, symmetry, and geometric form using multi-angle 360-degree capture stages.
- Master professional salon presentation lighting by using glare-free, high-CRI studio lights to accurately display dimensional color, tone, and skin finishes without distortion.
- Produce and publish interactive 3D digital portfolio assets that demonstrate technique mastery to prospective salon employers and licensing boards.
d) How does this project connect to a school or district priority?
Directly aligns with Collier County Public Schools’ commitment to workforce readiness, adult learner economic mobility, and entrepreneurship. Cosmetology graduates in Southwest Florida frequently launch their own booth-rental businesses or independent styling studios. Providing our learners with modern digital branding tools ensures they graduate as tech-forward beauty professionals ready to build a high-income clientele.
Aligns with iTECH’s Vision of empowering students through innovating hands-on training and our shared beliefs that instruction must represent current technology and practices and that instruction is meaningful when it is relevant to the students and incorporates current issues.
a) How will students actively participate?
Students will complete their practical haircutting, coloring, or styling practicals on mannequins or live clinic clients, then bring their finished work to the 3D capture station. Learners will place the mannequin or client on an automated, smooth 360-degree turntable. Using controlled diffuse lighting to eliminate harsh salon shadows, students record a synchronized, full-rotation scan. The system processes the images into an interactive 3D model that the student can spin, zoom in on, and embed directly into their online professional styling portfolios.
b) How will this project meet the needs of your students, classroom, and/or school?
This workstation elevates student self-assessment. Instead of only looking in a salon mirror, students review their styling work from all 360 degrees, spotting uneven weight lines or graduation flaws immediately. It also directly bridges the Cosmetology department with the campus-wide Silicon Glades initiative, allowing beauty students to benefit from the school's digital innovation tools using straightforward, hands-on hardware.
c) What teaching strategies or instructional activities will be used?
- 360-Degree Symmetry Critiques: Instructors and students rotate 3D scans of finished cuts to evaluate balance, elevation angles, and tapering from all perspectives.
- Color True-Tone Profiling: Students use calibrated, cross-polarized studio lighting to showcase accurate hair tones (such as neutralizing warm brassiness or capturing blonde highlights) without glare or washed-out flash.
- Digital Portfolio Practicums: Every student builds an interactive, web-based styling menu featuring rotating 3D models of their signature cuts and bridal work to present during salon hiring interviews.
d) How will student participation connect to classroom instruction?
Directly reinforces Florida cosmetology benchmarks covering safety/sanitation, client consultations, geometric hair design principles, and business marketing. Working in peer styling teams, students rotate through the station at the end of each practical clinic block to document their completed styles.
a) What specific improvements do you expect for your students?
Empowering Stylists with Digital Marketing Clout: Many adult students in our Cosmetology program are balancing family commitments and career changes. Gaining modern digital portfolio skills gives them an immediate competitive edge, enabling them to secure commission spots at premier salons and spas or successfully market independent styling services.
A Campus-Wide Cross-Disciplinary Bridge:
- Cosmetology: Students gain visual proof of technical hair design, symmetry, and color blending through rotating 3D models.
- Digital Media: Media students collaborate on lighting setups, web viewer embeds, and video compositing, giving both cohorts creative teamwork experience.
- Business & Accounting: Cosmetology students use their 3D asset links to build e-commerce service menus, linking service costs directly to business pricing formulas.
- Campus Showcases: Provides an eye-catching visual demonstration station during campus open houses and regional advisory meetings.
b) How will you know the project was successful?
Success will be achieved when 100% of graduating cosmetology cohorts build and publish an interactive digital portfolio featuring at least two completed 360-degree styling assets evaluated against state practical haircutting rubrics.
c) What evidence, observations, student work, or assessments will demonstrate impact?
- Interactive Online Stylist Portfolios: Live web portfolio links showcasing student-created, rotating 3D hairstyle models accessible by regional salon recruiters.
- Practical Haircut Balance Rubrics: Objective scoring sheets evaluating haircut balance and perimeter lines audited through 360-degree visual reviews.
- Florida State Board Practical Readiness: Demonstrated mastery of haircutting, styling, and sanitation requirements aligned with state licensing standards.
Purpose of Funding
Funding will acquire a specialized 3D volumetric capture station: a high-capacity motorized 360-degree turntable, high-definition capture camera, diffuse cross-polarized studio lighting, stable mounting C-stands, high-speed image transfer cards, and an on-site edge processor with high-endurance solid-state storage.
This hardware requires zero recurring software subscriptions. It serves as a permanent, non-consumable salon studio asset that will prepare multiple cosmetology classes year after year.
Budget Narrative
Direct Student Learning Alignment:
- High-Resolution Studio Capture Camera ($449.00): Captures high-clarity video and sequential images of hairstyles, cuts, and colors with manual exposure controls.
- Heavy-Duty Automated Motorized 360° Turntable ($189.00): Provides smooth, hands-free rotation of mannequins and clients for seamless, jitter-free full-circle scans.
- Bi-Color High-CRI LED Studio Panels with Diffusion ($330.00 total): Delivers clean, true-to-life salon lighting that eliminates harsh shadows and reveals accurate hair tones.
- Heavy-Duty C-Stands with Boom Arms & Clamps ($145.00): Secure, professional mounting hardware to hold cameras and lights safely above salon workstations.
- High-Speed Industrial Storage Cards & Transfer Hub ($211.00 total): Enables instant offloading of high-resolution photo batches without classroom delays.
- Dedicated Edge AI Processor & High-Endurance NVMe SSD ($554.00 total): Provides the on-site processing engine to compile 360-degree image batches into interactive 3D web models without recurring cloud fees.
The Jetson units requested here are dedicated exclusively to the camera equipment and are separate from the Jetson units requested in our companion AI Vision proposals, which each power distinct physical hardware systems.
Number of Students Benefiting:
- 30 to 50 adult cosmetology students annually will use the station to build professional graduation portfolios.
- 150+ cross-campus learners across digital media, business, and tech programs will participate in collaborative styling and digital twin demonstrations.
- 100% Non-Consumable: Professional, durable studio equipment built for years of continuous classroom service.
1878
High-Resolution Ultra-HD Studio Capture Cameras (Wide Dynamic Range)
The goal is to have a sensory room filled with materials or equipment that our population of students can have access to here in the school. The goal is for it to be an instructional and regulation space where students learn to recognize and manage sensory needs so they can return to instruction, participate safely, and access the curriculum.
Students can have the sensory input that they want/need to properly function throughout the day. They can walk through a sensory tent, have access to a crash pad, or a peanut ball, have tactile exploration, different lighting options, and movement/ gross motor opportunities.
Our students would have access to learning by having an opportunity to regulate and then return to the classroom ready to learn. Helps reduce challenging behaviors by those students who are seeking sensory input. This also supports PBIS here at Highlands by teaching students how to recognize when they need a break, ask for a break appropriately, and learn how to transition back to class.
The project will benefit students across our school, including students with autism and other disabilities, while providing staff with consistent, research-informed tools and strategies for supporting student regulation.
1862.88
Sensory Crash Pad
119.00
Sensory Spinning Chair
49.99
Sensory Spinning chair
49.99
Sensory Spinning Chair
49.99
Kids Peanut Ball Chair
20.00
Sensory Soft Squeeze Seat
89.99
Calming Sensory Lights
15.00
Sensory Bean Bags
26.99
Sensory Liquid Floor Mats 6 piece
55.99
iclever Noise Cancelling Headphones
13.99
voice recording buttons
27.98
Inflatable Peapod
69.99
Grow Through Movement Boundex Cuddle Box
549.99
FocusPad Vibrating Sensory Seat Cushion
44.00
Trampoline for kids indoor and outdoor
100.00
Ted Kangaroo Cloudbounce Barrel Roll
79.99
Balance Beam for Kids interlocking balancing beams-sensory pods
a) What is the overall purpose of your project?
To establish three dedicated Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and spatial sensing diagnostic workstations in the Automotive Service Technology program. Adult learners will use 360-degree laser LiDAR scanners, local diagnostic edge controllers, and high-speed data drives to calibrate collision-avoidance zones, audit optical sensor blind spots, and diagnose vehicle safety system failures caused by real-world environmental interference.
b) What need(s) does it address?
Modern passenger vehicles and commercial fleet trucks are equipped with complex driver-assist safety suites: adaptive cruise control, blind-spot monitoring, forward collision alerts, and automatic emergency braking. Dealerships and independent repair facilities face a severe shortage of technicians who know how to diagnose and calibrate these optical and laser sensor networks. Traditional automotive training emphasizes mechanical components—brakes, engines, and suspensions—leaving students with limited exposure to the digital perception networks that govern modern vehicle safety. Furthermore, technicians must understand why these systems fail in real Florida driving conditions: sun glare, torrential downpours, road spray, and bumper damage. This grant gives adult automotive learners the dedicated spatial hardware needed to see how vehicle safety sensors read surrounding space and troubleshoot the blind spots that cause false-positive warnings or critical detection failures.
c) What learning goal, academic standard, or outcome does your project address?
This project aligns directly with the Florida Department of Education’s Automotive Service Technology curriculum framework (Program I470608 / Transportation, Distribution & Logistics cluster), ASE/NATEF standards, and Florida Statute 1004.925 governing automotive instruction. It directly reinforces Electrical/Electronic Systems competencies (Course AER0691) and Automotive Preventative Maintenance (Course AER0014).
Students will:
- Set up, connect, and calibrate 360-degree laser range sensors to map safety perimeters and identify blind-spot zones around simulated vehicles.
- Perform diagnostic stress tests to evaluate how physical occlusions, surface reflections, dust, and glare degrade collision-avoidance sensors.
- Interpret live point-cloud sensor feeds and configure automated warning thresholds to verify vehicle safety-override and braking alerts.
d) How does this project connect to a school or district priority?
Directly advances Collier County Public Schools’ strategic focus on workforce acceleration, technical safety culture, and high-wage career placement. The automotive repair sector in Southwest Florida is evolving rapidly toward hybrid, electric, and computer-assisted platforms. Equipping our adult students with practical ADAS sensor troubleshooting skills ensures iTECH graduates secure high-demand technician roles that pay top starting wages.
Aligns with iTECH’s Vision of empowering students through innovating hands-on training and our shared beliefs that instruction must represent current technology and practices and that instruction is meaningful when it is relevant to the students and incorporates current issues.
a) How will students actively participate?
Students will work in diagnostic teams across three dedicated benchtop workcells. Learners will wire and mount 360-degree laser scanners to vehicle test bays and rolling carts. Students will simulate common road hazards—positioning obstacles at varying distances, creating optical blind spots, and introducing simulated glare or debris—to observe how the vehicle's computer registers the surrounding environment. Teams will analyze real-time spatial readings on their diagnostic screens, adjust sensor alignment angles, and test warning triggers when a target enters a vehicle's emergency stopping perimeter.
b) How will this project meet the needs of your students, classroom, and/or school?
This project bridges traditional mechanical wrenching with modern vehicle network diagnostics. Instead of treating driver-assist sensors as an untouchable "black box," students interact directly with the hardware feeds. It demystifies automotive electronics, showing learners how modern vehicles combine laser, radar, and optical data to protect motorists, pedestrians, and cyclists.
c) What teaching strategies or instructional activities will be used?
- ADAS Perimeter Calibration Labs: Students measure and mark physical safety zones around vehicles, calibrating laser detection thresholds to match manufacturer specifications.
- Environmental Failure Simulations: Teams intentionally introduce rain mist, road grime, and angle offsets to track how sensor accuracy degrades and record false-negative readings.
- Cross-Program Safety Audits: Automotive students demonstrate blind-spot detection cones and perimeter warnings to peers in Heavy Equipment and Construction, showing how automated safety zones protect personnel around operating machinery.
d) How will student participation connect to classroom instruction?Connects directly to curriculum units covering automotive wiring schematics, digital sensor inputs, collision mitigation systems, scan-tool diagnostics, and shop safety procedures. Automotive classes will divide into small rotating groups, ensuring every student spends hands-on time setting up sensor hardware, running diagnostic sweeps, and verifying safety cut-offs
a) What specific improvements do you expect for your students?
Transforming Mechanics into Advanced Systems Technicians: Many adult learners in our Automotive program are working to transition into master-certified, high-wage technician careers. Mastering sensor network diagnostics and ADAS calibration elevates our graduates above basic oil-and-tire service technicians, positioning them for high-demand diagnostic roles at regional dealerships and collision centers.
A Campus-Wide Cross-Disciplinary Bridge:
- Automotive Service Technology: Students gain direct diagnostic experience with the laser and optical sensors that govern modern vehicle safety suites.
- Heavy Equipment Mechanics: Students apply these same perimeter sensing principles to heavy equipment blind spots, boom swing clearances, and reverse-travel alerts.
- Information Technology: IT cohorts manage the network data streams and assist with operating system scripts, modeling the close partnership between mechanical and tech teams in modern fleet facilities.
- Digital Media: Media students utilize the 3D laser scan data to practice digital spatial modeling and virtual simulation environments.
b) How will you know the project was successful?
Success will be achieved when 100% of participating student teams successfully calibrate a 360-degree sensor workstation, map a vehicle's perimeter blind spots, and verify that the system detects a simulated obstruction and triggers a warning alert within 100 milliseconds.
c) What evidence, observations, student work, or assessments will demonstrate impact?
- Sensor Calibration Checksheets: Completed diagnostic inspection sheets detailing sensor alignment angles, perimeter distances, and blind-spot mitigation steps.
- Obstacle Detection Performance Logs: Printed or digital scan charts showing detection accuracy across clear versus obstructed test conditions.
- ASE-Style Practical Assessments: Hands-on evaluations measuring student proficiency in electrical troubleshooting, sensor diagnosis, and electronic safety verification.
Purpose of Funding
The requested funds establish three identical, self-contained Automotive Sensor & ADAS Diagnostic Workstations. Each station is equipped with an industry-standard 360-degree laser scanner, a dedicated on-site edge controller, and high-endurance solid-state storage. By operating entirely on-site without recurring cloud fees or expensive recurring software licenses, this setup provides a durable, permanent diagnostic laboratory that will serve successive classes of adult automotive technicians for years to come.
Budget Narrative
Direct Student Learning Alignment:
- 3× Slamtec RPLIDAR A1M8 360° Laser Range Scanner Kits ($357.00 total): Provides three physical spatial scanning units for students to mount, wire, and calibrate when testing automotive safety perimeters and blind spots.
- 3× NVIDIA Jetson Orin Nano Edge Compute Units (8GB) ($1,497.00 total): Dedicated on-site diagnostic controllers that process high-speed laser sensor feeds locally, allowing three separate student teams to troubleshoot systems simultaneously.
- 3× Industrial 512GB M.2 NVMe Solid-State Drives ($144.00 total): Rugged, high-endurance local storage drives engineered to withstand constant read/write cycles while logging diagnostic sensor records and telemetry files.
NOTE: The Jetson units requested here are dedicated exclusively to this utilizing the equipment in this grant, and is separate from the Jetson units requested in our companion Silicon Glades proposals.
Number of Students Benefiting:
- 40 to 60 adult automotive students annually will train hands-on with these workstations during electrical and diagnostic lab rotations.
- 150+ cross-campus students across heavy equipment, construction, and IT will take part in collaborative safety-perimeter and sensor-auditing demonstrations.
- 100% Non-Consumable: Heavy-duty, industrial-grade hardware built for repeated use in vocational shop environments.
1998
3x Slamtec RPLIDAR A1M8 360° Laser Range Scanner Kits
a) What is the overall purpose of your project?
To bring precision robotic automation, machine cell tending, and custom tool fabrication into the Machining Technologies and Advanced Manufacturing program. Adult learners will use the ROBOTIS OMX articulated manipulator system alongside our campus sorting line to master how modern automated manufacturing plants load parts, manipulate workpieces, and route finished products using smart robotics.
b) What need(s) does it address?
Modern machine shops and precision manufacturing floors are transitioning rapidly from manual machine loading to automated cell tending and robotic part handling. In today's advanced facilities, CNC machinists and fabricators do not simply cut stock; they set up, program, and maintain the robotic arms that feed parts into machines, unload finished components, and clear defective items off conveyor lines. Our adult machining students develop strong foundational skills in blueprint reading, manual milling, and CNC tool paths, but lack hands-on experience interfacing their machined parts with precision robotic arms and automated sorting systems. This project provides a fully accessible, modular robotics cell that lets machining students design, machine, and test custom robotic tooling right on the shop floor.
c) What learning goal, academic standard, or outcome does your project address?
This project aligns directly with the Florida Department of Education’s Machining Technologies / Computer Numerical Control (CNC) Machinist framework (Program J200200 / CIP 0648051002), specifically supporting competencies in CNC operations, precision measurement, CAD/CAM part design, workholding fixtures, and automated production processes.
Students will:
- Design, machine, and 3D-print custom robotic end-effectors (grippers, brackets, and vacuum mounts) tailored to pick up specific machined parts and raw metal stock.
- Program and teach multi-axis robotic arms using intuitive leader-to-follower demonstration to automate repetitive pick-and-place and sorting routines.
- Integrate robotic arm movements with our sorting conveyor to inspect part orientations, reject defective components, and load finished items into staging pallets.
d) How does this project connect to a school or district priority?
Directly advances Collier County Public Schools’ strategic focus on workforce acceleration, technical craftsmanship, and high-wage career placement. Southwest Florida’s manufacturing, aerospace machining, and automated distribution sectors urgently need cross-trained technicians who understand both precision metal fabrication and modern industrial automation.
Aligns with iTECH’s Vision of empowering students through innovating hands-on training and our shared beliefs that instruction must represent current technology and practices and that instruction is meaningful when it is relevant to the students and incorporates current issues.
a) How will students actively participate?
Students will operate in precision engineering teams. Learners will build and set up the robotic manipulator arms at dedicated shop workcells. Machining students will use CAD/CAM software, mills, and 3D printers to fabricate custom gripper fingers designed to hold specific machined aluminum components. Using the system's intuitive demonstration arm, students will physically guide the robot through a loading routine—teaching the machine how to lift a part from a tray, position it precisely on a workholding fixture, and remove it after simulated processing.
b) How will this project meet the needs of your students, classroom, and/or school?
This project connects traditional machining trades with advanced industrial robotics. Rather than treating robotics as a distant computer-science concept, students see it as an essential shop tool that works hand-in-hand with CNC machines. It gives adult learners practical experience with modern automated machine tending, showing them how robotics increases shop throughput, prevents worker strain, and ensures repeatable part handling.
c) What teaching strategies or instructional activities will be used?
- Custom Gripper & Fixture Design: Students measure irregular workpieces, design custom aluminum or polymer jaws, and mount them to the robot's wrist to test mechanical grip stability.
- Demonstration-Based Motion Teaching: Teams physically guide the leader arm through a complex path, recording motion trajectories so the follower arm can repeat the cycle with precision.
- Conveyor Offloading Practicums: Students interface the robotic arm with our campus sorting line, programming the arm to recognize part orientation and sort good parts from flawed items.
d) How will student participation connect to classroom instruction?
Directly reinforces machining competencies in fixturing, geometric dimensioning and tolerancing (GD&T), machine setup, cycle-time efficiency, and automated quality control. Students will rotate through the robotic cell during manufacturing lab periods, applying their machined components to automated handling challenges.
a) What specific improvements do you expect for your students?
Elevating Machinists into Automation Technicians: Many adult students in our manufacturing program are preparing for second careers or working toward high-wage opportunities in regional industry. Equipping them with hands-on robotic programming and cell-tending skills transforms them from basic machine operators into versatile automated manufacturing technicians who can command top starting wages.
A Campus-Wide Cross-Disciplinary Bridge:
- Machining & Advanced Manufacturing: Students design, mill, and test custom physical fixtures, brackets, and robotic tooling for automated part handling.
- Accounting & Inventory: Business students track the arm's pick cycle times and scrap rejections to calculate machine throughput and operational cost efficiency.
- Information Technology: IT cohorts assist with networking the local controller and vision cameras, mirroring the collaboration between machinists and maintenance teams in modern factories.
b) How will you know the project was successful?
Success will be achieved when 100% of participating student teams successfully design and mount a custom gripper or fixture, program a multi-step trajectory using demonstration teaching, and achieve a 95%+ pick-and-place success rate across repeated production trials.
c) What evidence, observations, student work, or assessments will demonstrate impact?
- Fabricated Tooling Artifacts: Student-machined or 3D-printed custom gripper attachments evaluated for dimensional fit, finish, and holding strength.
- Production Run Quality Sheets: Quality control logs documenting cycle times, repeat accuracy, and successful sorting counts.
- Demonstration Video Portfolios: Short video recordings of student-engineered workcells in action, providing demonstrable proof of robotics proficiency during job interviews.
Purpose of Funding
The requested funds establish two identical, self-contained robotic automation workcells for our manufacturing shop. Each station includes a complete ROBOTIS OMX manipulator system (featuring a leader arm for human demonstration and a follower arm for automated execution), a dedicated local processing unit, high-speed solid-state storage, and an optical alignment camera.
This modular hardware runs entirely on-site without any recurring software licenses or cloud fees. It provides a permanent, reusable physical training asset that will serve successive classes of adult machining and manufacturing students for years to come.
Budget Narrative
Direct Student Learning Alignment:
- 2× ROBOTIS OMX Manipulator Systems ($687.70 total): Provides four total arms (two pairs of Leader and Follower units), allowing two student teams to build, program, and test automated pick-and-place routines simultaneously.
- 2× Dedicated On-Site Edge Processing Nodes ($998.00 total): Provides dedicated computing power at each workstation to control smart motor servos, run visual part alignment, and execute smooth trajectory paths locally.
- 2× Industrial 512GB High-Endurance NVMe SSDs ($110.00 total): High-speed local solid-state storage to save student motion programs, CAM models, and continuous machine cycle logs without system lag.
- 2× Precision Wide-Angle Vision Cameras ($174.00 total): Optical sensors mounted over the workstations to detect part position and verify correct orientation before the arm grips a workpiece.
NOTE: The Jetson units requested here are dedicated exclusively to these Robotic Arms, and are separate from the Jetson units requested in our companion Silicon Glades proposals.
Number of Students Benefiting:
- 24 to 35 adult students annually in Machining Technologies and Manufacturing will train hands-on with these workcells.
- 150+ cross-campus learners across logistics, business, and IT will engage during automated line and sorting demonstrations.
- 100% Non-Consumable: Rugged, industrial-grade hardware with modular, replaceable gears and servos engineered for long-term classroom durability.
1970
2x - ROBOTIS OMX-AI Manipulator System (Leader + Follower Bundle)
Our goal is to provide LEGO building materials for our school-wide Leader in Me student clubs, giving our kindergarten and first-grade students an engaging, hands-on way to develop leadership skills while creating and building together.
Through LEGO challenges and collaborative building activities, students will practice important Leader in Me habits such as being proactive, beginning with the end in mind, putting first things first, thinking win-win, seeking to understand others, synergizing, and sharpening the saw. Students will have opportunities to share ideas, listen to their peers, solve problems, make decisions, and work together toward a common goal.
The LEGOs will encourage creativity, critical thinking, communication, perseverance, and teamwork while helping our youngest students see themselves as capable leaders. We want our kindergarteners and first graders to learn that leadership isn't just about being in charge—it is about making good choices, helping others, working together, and believing in what they can accomplish.
With these LEGOs, we hope to create meaningful club experiences where our youngest leaders can build, create, collaborate, and grow—one brick at a time!
During our School-Wide Leader in Me Student Clubs, kindergarten and first-grade students will participate in hands-on LEGO building challenges designed to develop leadership, teamwork, creativity, and problem-solving skills.
Students will work individually, with partners, and in small groups to complete a variety of building challenges. They will be encouraged to share ideas, listen to their teammates, make decisions, solve problems, and persevere when their designs do not work the first time. Students will also have opportunities to explain their creations and reflect on what they learned.
These LEGO activities will provide our kindergarten and first-grade students with hands-on opportunities to develop important academic, social, and leadership skills in a fun and engaging way. Building with LEGO encourages students to think creatively, solve problems, and persevere when faced with challenges.
Working together will help students strengthen their communication, cooperation, and teamwork skills. Students will practice listening to others, sharing ideas, taking turns, making decisions, and working toward a common goal. These experiences directly support the principles of Leader in Me and help students understand what it means to be a leader.
LEGO challenges will also encourage students to use their imagination and see that there can be multiple ways to solve a problem. Most importantly, students will have opportunities to build confidence, develop independence, and recognize their own ability to contribute to a team.
By providing these materials, we can create meaningful and memorable learning experiences that help our youngest students build leadership skills, strengthen relationships, and become confident problem-solvers—one brick at a time!
The purpose of this funding is to provide LEGO building materials for our school-wide Leader in Me student clubs, specifically benefiting our kindergarten and first-grade students. These materials will give our youngest students hands-on opportunities to learn, create, collaborate, and develop leadership skills through engaging building challenges.
190.00
Classic Baseplates Building Plates-Pack of 20 Large 10" x 10" Building Bricks Compatible with All Major Brands,Perfect STEM Gift for Builders（Multicolored）
33.99
LEGO Classic Large Creative Brick Box 10698
33.99
LEGO Classic Medium Creative Brick Box 10696
24.88
1500 Pieces Building Bricks for Kids, Classic Building Bulk Blocks
29.88
1500 Pieces Building Bricks for Kids, Classic Building Bulk Blocks
