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Rotary Club: Homer-Kachemak Bay Project Title: Japanese Travel Scholarships 1. Describe the project. What was done, when and where did project activities take place? When the Nikolaevsk School senior trip was canceled due to COVID and when the seniors scattered to another school and/or homeschool, the Rotary Club of Homer-Kachemak Bay pivoted to make good use of the grant money. The grant ultimately was divided into three parts: 1. Part 1: COVID has left the little school in Nikolaevsk a little unsettled. We talked with Billeen Carlson, the teacher who had requested funds for the Japanese Travel Scholarships, and made a plan for using half ($2,500) the grant money to help give the students field trips to expand their horizons. Even getting to the Homer Public Library can be a challenge for them. They have used the money to visit the Pratt Museum, Kachemak Bay Campus, the Homer Public Library, Alaska Center for Coastal Studies and other educational destinations. The school had some money left over (about $616) and we agreed to let them keep it for field trips for the 2022-23 school year, since some of the planned field trips were canceled because of COVID. 2. Part 2: We wanted to use the remainder of the money for an educational project. Homer has an excellent reputation for the art that comes out of our community. The Homer High School art teacher had a need for funds for her art classes — replacing thick mullite kiln shelves with thinner, lighter carbide kiln shelves, which will make loading the kiln much easier and much more time and fuel efficient due to not having to heat so much mass. ($2,100) 3. Part 3: After hearing a presentation about the Guatemala Literacy Project, we decided to use remaining grant funds to add to donations from our members to support the GLP. While our club wrote a check for $1,000 — only $400 of that came from the grant. 2. How many people benefited from this project? Possibly in the thousands 3. Who were the beneficiaries, how were they impacted by this project, and what humanitarian need was met? Part 1: About 10 students (and their siblings who heard about their adventures) benefited from the school field trips. Part 2: The kiln project benefits hundreds/thousands of art students at Homer High School for years to come. Part 3: I don't know that we ever know the wide-reaching impact of a scholarship to a program like the Guatemala Literacy Project. The humanitarian needs that were met were education and economic development, which go hand in hand. It's worth noting that the book "Drawdown" ranked educating girls as No. 6 in impact when it comes to reversing the effects of climate change. As Malala Yousafzai, Nobel laureate and girls' education activist has said: " One child, one teacher, one book, and one pen, can change the world." It's difficult to overestimate the importance of expanding the horizons of students in Alaska's rural schools — which the money for Nikolaevsk did. We won't know the far-reaching effects of helping a program like the Guatemala Literacy Project. And it's hard to quantify how new, efficient equipment will help the high school art program, but we know it will. 4. How many Rotarians participated in the project? At least a dozen 5. What did they do? Please give at least two examples, not including financial support provided to the project. When the club found out the senior trip to Japan was not going to happen, members and the board brainstormed ways to use the money that would honor the educational purposes of the trip. Rotarians came up with ideas of places for the students to visit, visited with area school principals to find other uses for the money and suggested uses for the grant, for example, the Guatemala Literacy Project. Some Rotarians hosted the students from Nikolaevsk at their workplaces — for example, board member Beth Trowbridge, who is the executive director of the Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies. In particular, Club President Bernie Griffard worked with Homer High School administrators and staff to find another worthy project when the Nikolaevsk School trip to Japan was canceled. 6. If a cooperating organization was involved, what was its role? The Kenai Peninsula Borough School District documented the use of funds given to Nikolaevsk School. Nikolaevsk School administrators and Homer High School administrators helped with reporting requirements for the money their schools. 7. Income
8. Expenditures
District must retain receipts of all expenditures for at least five years. Please scan and upload to the project's "Documents" tab all invoices (be sure they are marked "paid"), receipts and/or copies of checks for the full amount of the project budget. By signing this report, I confirm that to the best of my knowledge these District Grant funds were spent only for eligible items in accordance with Trustee-approved guidelines, and that all of the information contained herein is true and accurate. I also understand that all photographs submitted in connection with this report will become the property of RI and will not be returned. I warrant that I own all rights in the photographs, including copyright, and herby grant RI and TRF a royalty free irrevocable license to use the photographs now or at any time in the future, throughout the world in any manner it so chooses and in any medium now known or later developed. This includes the right to modify the photograph(s) as necessary in RI's sole discretion. This also includes, without limitation, use on or in the web site, magazines, brochures, pamphlets, exhibitions and any other promotional materials of RI and TRF.
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