Camden High School -

With the help of the Rome Teachers’ Federal Credit Union, two staff members from the Camden Central School District received a very pleasant surprise on Thursday, February 5th.

Representatives from the Credit Union presented two of its Education Impact Grant Awards to McConnellsville Elementary Library Media Specialist Shelley Malenowski, and Camden High School Science Teacher David Stoelzel. The honors were presented by Elaina MacKenzie, the Credit Union’s Connections and Impact Manager, and Chief Operations Officer Jessica Nester.

The Education Impact Grant Awards program supports educators and students across the RTFCU membership area by funding initiatives in three categories: classroom innovation, financial literacy programs, and career readiness partnerships. Grants range in size from $500 to $5,000. Both Camden recipients were selected to receive grants in the area of classroom innovation, totaling $2,093.

Malenowski received a grant in the amount of $1,095 for her “Buzzing Into Learning” project, which allows her to expand on her ongoing efforts to teach 21st Century STEM concepts through experiences in robotics. The grant will be used to bring six Bee-Bots programmable educational robots with a docking station, and a variety of activity mats, into the CMS library. The robots have functions that appeal to a wide range of grade levels, and can introduce concepts in mathematics, geometry, and programming in an engaging way. They can also be used for cross-curricular explorations that incorporate literacy skills by applying the robot’s movement to a narrative-based activity. Movements are programmed in by the student through buttons on the back of each Bee-Bot. Students complete assigned tasks by inputting the correct sequence of directional movements.

Stoelzel secured $998 in funding to expand his use of Oculus Quest Virtual Reality Headsets in his Earth and Space Science courses. Through the use of VR, students can participate in explorations to places otherwise difficult to reach including the Great Barrier Reef, Mount Everest, and the International Space Center. The experiences allow students to immerse themselves in the places where the concepts they’re learning are applied, which can boost retention and understanding of the material.

Stoelzel has been using the technology in his classrooms for years, starting with older PC-tethered models that required a high performance PC to work well. Since, the technology has progressed to standalone models that allow cordless freedom, and an improved library of standalone applications. Stoelzel has a limited number of newer headsets, and this grant will allow him to purchase additional units of an even newer model.

While the projects are different in scope, a shared focus on innovation made the proposals worth supporting for the RTFCU team, which provides financial services to people in 36 different school districts across Central New York.

“We’re really passionate about our school districts,” MacKenzie said. “Starting as a teacher’s credit union and then being open to the community now, we still want to keep that connection with our teachers. We love doing these kinds of classroom impact grants and seeing what teachers can do with their classrooms. We just want to see creative things.”