10 South Mississippi teachers are honored with Leo W. Seal teaching grants
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- Gulf Coast Community Foundation and Hancock Whitney honored 10 teachers.
- Grants support programs in science, math, language, construction and entrepreneurship.
- Teachers say grants enable hands‑on, real‑world student projects.
10 teachers were honored Friday with Leo W. Seal Innovative Teacher Grants at Hancock Whitney Plaza for their award-winning classroom project proposals.
The grants, worth up to $2,000, were presented by Hancock Whitney and the Gulf Coast Community Foundation and were awarded to teachers based on “their commitment to educational excellence and to outstanding teaching creativity.” The grants cover a variety of programs focused on science, math, language, construction and entrepreneurship.
For D’Iberville High School teacher Lisa Renee Klann, “it means a ton to be part of that group and to be recognized for what you’ve contributed.” “It really means a lot, I’m very grateful,” Klann said.
The money from the grants will go toward funding classroom projects like The Air We Share, a class led by Petal High School teacher Matthew Godshaw, which involves students identifying locations with poor air quality which could contribute to illness-related absences.
“This means a lot because students are able to apply concepts that we are doing in class to a real-life, real-world situation that directly affects them,” Godshaw said. “A lot of the time they get into a class, and they learn about the concepts, and they learn the terms, but they don’t really see how it applies to the real-life situation, so this gives them a hands-on way to take the concepts and put it into a real-life situation.”
The other eight teachers recognized include Tanya Rae Adams of North Woolmarket Elementary and Middle School, Emily Katherine Bethea of Christ Covenant School, Elaine Barnes Dent of Vancleave Middle School, Jacqueline Aultman Foreman of D’Iberville Middle School, Schenel Fricke of Hancock County Career and Technical Center, Cynthia Denice Harris of Moss Point Career and Technical Education Center, Melanie Walton of Lighthouse Academy for Dyslexia and Sara Drue Zimmer of Petal High School.
The launch of these grant-funded programs has been “very well received” by students. “I have two blocks, 30 kids in each block, so they knew that this was going to be a very special class,” said Klann. “They knew that I was going to be putting a lot into it.”
For teachers like Godshaw, the most rewarding part of receiving the Leo Seal Grants is how it lets them pass opportunities on to their students. “The recognition is always awesome, it just means a lot to me to be able to use this as a way to build these kids’ lives and their futures.”
