Record number of teachers earn classroom grants across four counties

Attachments

Full grant award list for the 2025 North Central Education Foundation awards ceremonies held across the region.

EAST WENATCHEE — The North Central Education Foundation (NCEF) awarded classroom grants to 253 teachers this fall, the highest total in the foundation’s 16-year history. Educators in 25 districts across Chelan, Douglas, Grant and Okanogan counties received funding, which supports teacher-designed projects in literacy, cultural education, arts and STEM.

This year’s awards were presented in person at regional events: Chelan and Douglas County recipients gathered at Eastmont Junior High on Nov. 18, Grant County educators were honored at Columbia Basin Tech Center in Moses Lake on Nov. 19, and Okanogan County recipients were recognized the same evening at Okanogan High School .

NCEF President Jeff Kimbell said the foundation works to secure funding that helps teachers “innovate and help their students to reach their potential,” noting that the grants provide hands-on learning opportunities regardless of district size or location.

Examples of Classroom Projects

Teachers received grants in categories ranging from cultural awareness to STEM. A sample of funded projects from the 2025 list includes:

• Cashmere School District: elementary Spanish experiences and hands-on kindergarten STEM exploration
  
  
• Manson School District: Día de los Muertos cultural learning and science/STEM expansion at Manson Schools
  
  
• Quincy School District: salmon release projects, textile arts, and classroom “thinking strategies” to boost literacy and problem-solving
  
  
• Lake Chelan School District: building fluent readers at the elementary level and student-created relief sculptures in the arts
  
  
• Eastmont School District: museum-based Washington history learning and Stormwater Steward environmental science projects
  
  
• Moses Lake School District: preschool social-emotional learning, agricultural chemistry and food science, and model rocketry in STEM
  
  
• Bridgeport School District: student-run financial literacy store and language-support programs for multilingual learners
  
  
• Orondo School District: attendance incentives for rural students and hands-on math/engineering family nights
  
  

The foundation also awarded 45 collaborative grants involving two or more teachers working together on the same project, a trend NCEF said it was “very pleased” to see grow .

Donors and Community Support

Wheatland Bank returned as the premier sponsor, contributing $10,000 toward this year’s teacher grants. Support also came from local service clubs, community foundations, banks, arts funds, and individual donors across the region .

Despite the record number of awards, NCEF reported that 69 applications from 107 teachers were not funded due to limited resources. Those proposals will remain available for “adoption” by community members, businesses or organizations interested in sponsoring a specific classroom need. Readers can view the full list of recipients and their specific award descriptions here.

Andrew Simpson: 509-433-7626 or andrew@ward.media