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A key part of literacy in the US is ensuring that students have the research and writing skills to truly be productive citizens in our society. They not only need to be able to write effectively, but they also need to connect with their community, identify needs and craft proposals for solutions that will help improve their community.
The Cheyenne Rotary Club is partnering with Laramie County School District #1 in Cheyenne, Wyoming to create a real world learning experience for all 10th graders in the district. As part of their 10th grade curriculum, students will work with Rotarians as community mentors to write a School Improvement Grant proposal aimed at enhancing the academic, social, emotional, and physical well-being of their school communities. The project challenges students to think about real problems, consequences, and budgets and to enhance their literacy skills in ways that have real-world impact and outcomes.
Rotarians will work with the students to help them really understand their community and identify projects where they can make an impact. Students will work through the process of really understanding the needs of the project, building a budget and looking at potential impacts. One student proposal from each high school (Cheyenne Central, Cheyenne East, Cheyenne South and Triumph) will be chosen for implementation by a panel of Rotarians and Community Experts.
Rotary will provide $2000 for each high school to allow the chosen grant proposals to be implemented to improve their community. This provides a way for the grants to come to life for the children to see the impacts of their learning.
Addendum to Project Description (added after the project was signed)
Due to a change in administration at the School District, the curriculum that this grant was going to support has been eliminated for this year. Thus, we are submitting an addendum to support a different literacy project with Laramie County School District 1.
In November of 2025, the Rotary Club of Cheyenne and the Kiwanis Club of Cheyenne will combine forces to provide ever 2nd grander in LCSD1 with a book and provider readers in all 30 of the 2nd grade classrooms. We will also use materials (bookmarks, posters, and gifts) to promote early literacy and to help better support our education community.
Members of both the Rotary Club of Cheyenne and the Kiwanis Club of Cheyenne will sign up to read to a second grade classroom during their library time. At that time we will hand out a book, "Those Shoes" by Maribeth Boelts which focuses on the peace and support skills that are at the foundation of both Rotary and Kiwanis.
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