Olivia Mercado-Ford and Allie Bucknell at Lowell Elementary received $3,058.05 for their proposal, “Let Me Be Independent!”

With the funds, they will purchase learning materials to build work basket systems for students with disabilities. They plan to purchase tactile letters, count and link activity sets, touch and match math games, counting cans, sequence and read story tiles, magnetic boards, shape sorters, fine motor games, sensory bins, alphabet rockets, and more. In the application, they wrote, “Achieving independence is our goal as students with learning disabilities require support to complete tasks to meet learning objectives and participate in mastering the curriculum. Our students are in the early stages of learning letters, letter sounds, numbers, and fine motor skills which are crucial to learning independence. These activities will introduce new vocabulary to students who are non-verbal or use limited verbal language. By providing materials for work basket systems, students will have opportunities to learn designated skills at their level with minimal assistance.”