GRIDLEY, CA (MPG) - Rural Schools Collaborative is pleased to announce our 2020-2021 Celia B. Godsil Grants in Place Fellow recipients. The Fellows will work with their respective students on place-based action research projects, which address specific community issues. We believe that rural teachers are placemakers. Through place-based learning efforts, teachers are able to express their dedication to the community by rooting classroom teachings in the unique history, environment, economy, and culture of the location in which they educate. 

Each Celia B. Godsil Grants in Place Fellow receives a $3,000 grant that supports the student-centered place-based project, a professional development presentation, and an honorarium for the educator. The Grants in Place program is funded through the generous support from Celia and Mark Godsil in honor of Celia's career as a public school teacher and their belief in the importance of classroom teachers to rural communities. Learn more about the at ruralschoolscollaborative.org/place-based-education/grants-in-place

In your region, we are excited to share with you that Jan Matthews’ project has been selected to be a Celia B. Godsil Grants in Place Fellow for the 2020-21 school year.

This place-based project will involve students and community members working together to create a desirable and usable gathering space on campus. Students will create the plans, organize the labor, and complete the tasks needed to design and build this community area. Student-driven projects offer team-building opportunities and motivate students to make connections with each other and with community members. By empowering students, I will foster their leadership skills and reinforce their confidence. Students will learn how to create positive change in their world by starting right here at their school.

Jan is a middle school science teacher in rural California. This is her eighteenth year of teaching. One of her favorite things to do when she is not bird-watching or being outdoors is to bring humor and a sense of community into her classroom. She has been a California State University, Chico partner and mentor teacher for much of her career and finds working with credential candidates rewarding and extremely beneficial to her own reflective practices. Jan has never received a grant like this before and is looking forward to creating a comfortable and safe space for her student community on her campus.