BY DAN NEWMAN
Staff Writer
MIDDLETOWN — A group of Thompson Middle School students, will get the chance to be the next Ken Jennings thanks to a grant amounting to over $2,000, courtesy of the Middletown Township Education Foundation (MTEF).
The grant, given to integrated language arts teachers Judy Kelly and Carl Gentry, will be used to play “Classroom Jeopardy!,” with the goal being to get their students to learn by using new concepts and ways of learning.
“We want to be able to customize the games and use technology so that the kids will be able to learn things in a way that is different from what they are normally used to in the classroom,” Kelly said.
Although Kelly was uncertain as to an exact date that she and Gentry applied for the grant, she did say it was awhile ago and she only found out about receiving it this past weekend.
“We hoped we would get it, but it did take some time for us to find out,” Kelly said. “If you don’t try, you’ll never know if you could get it or not.”
Kelly said she’ll implement the project as soon as the funds become available. Her gifted students in grades six through eight will be the first to try things out, and she hopes eventually others will get a chance as well.
“I think our grant proposal was successful because we thought that the other students in the school would be able to benefit as well from this,” Kelly explained. “We could think of it as the gifted kids being our testers for this whole project, and if things go well, then everybody can get in on it.”
While she may not pass as Alex Trebek, Kelly did have another option in mind as to who could be a celebrity host in her classroom.
“I think maybe I could dress up as Vanna White. I know it’s the wrong game show, but at least it’d be somebody from one of those kind of shows,” Kelly said. “In the past, Mr. Gentry and I have dressed up as Andy Warhol and Doris Day, as part of our classroom lessons. It’s our way of getting through to the kids and showing them that learning can be fun.”
The MTEF awarded over $11,000 for eight educational programs. The money came on one of three occasions during which the foundation presents its grants.
Among the other programs that received grants were a reading development program at Lincroft Elementary School, a poetry group focused on giving Thompson Middle School students the opportunity to interact with published poets and authors, and an art and literary magazine created by fifth-graders at Bayview Elementary School.
The MTEF donates between $10,000 and $15,000 per grant period, thanks in part to the annual back-to-school calendar sale, the Great Race (a local road race held each fall) and the annual Dinner Dance Gala.