Following is a list of grants that focus on promoting lifelong health and wellness behavior in our students.
| Title | Description | Year | Schools |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rope Course | Expanded physical education curriculum with "initiative tasks," promoting social, psychological, and personal development in addition to physical skills. | 1996-1997 | NJH |
| Freshwater Academy | Established Freshwater Academy, a full-semester program integrating learning in environmental issues, science, social studies, language arts, and physical education. | 1998-1999 | HHS |
| Family Center | Assisted with the purchase of new gym equipment and enhancement of outdoor play equipment to accommodate the growing and diverse needs of the children served. | 2000-2001 | Harley Hopkins |
| Dance Class Equipment | Purchased materials needed to implement two new dance courses to address diverse interests and fulfill graduation standards. | 2001-2002 | HHS |
| Nutrition and Obesity | Awarded funds for a health and nutrition program designed to educate students about the positive benefits of appropriate food choices and a physically active lifestyle in order to address the growing problem of obesity. | 2003-2004 | HHS |
| Be Your Dream Academic Coaching | Professional life coaches will provide one on one coaching for students and workshops for teachers, staff, and parents. Read more | 2011-2012 | HHS, NJH, West Junior |
| Green Gatehouse Structural Plan | HHS Earth Club designs 'green' parking attendant structure. Read more | 2013-2014 | HHS |
| Tower Vegetable Garden: Indoor Harvesting and Sharing | Second graders will plant, monitor, harvest and share the bounty from this impressive tower of fauna on wheels. As the pyramid of 28 plants circulates among five classrooms, these fast-growing (4-8 weeks) fruits and vegetables will encourage experimentation with new food and discussions about healthy choices. Read more. | 2015-2016 | Eisenhower & XinXing |
| Community Vegetable Garden & Outdoor Classroom | Partnering with Glen Lake’s community, the school’s new living laboratory will focus on science, agriculture, and cooperation. Each grade level will plant six plots and use the garden in a different way. Read more. | 2015-2016 | Glen Lake |
| Creating Sustainable Mini-Ecosystems | Excited 7th graders formulated the idea for this project and undertook the initial research into designing and building two hydroponic gardens and an aquaponic garden.Read more. | 2015-2016 | WJH |
| Mindsets for Parents | This grant, in conjunction with a donation from Flipgrid, will produce a series of short videos in multiple languages, all designed to share information and build relationships with parents who do not have the flexibility to attend school functions and interact with staff. Read more | 2016-2017 | Tanglen |
| Brain Training to Instill Grit | ‘Thinking outside the box’ begins with students’ determination to solve problems and the confidence in their ability to persevere. Brain puzzles are an interactive way for students to practice grit and creativity – strengths that 21st Century learners need in addition to academics. Read more | 2016-2017 | Tanglen |
| Heart Zones Fitness | The use of Blink Armband heart rate monitors for second through sixth graders will help make the physical education curriculum more fun and meaningful, and eventually eliminate the need for traditional testing such as counting push-ups and sit-ups. Read more | 2016-2017 | Gatewood |
| Social Emotional Learning Assessment Study | Over the course of the 2017-18 school year, Special Education staff will pilot 4 different assessment tools for evaluating students’ social and emotional leaning. The assessment tool that best benefits students will then be used as a framework to further the work of school social workers and classroom teachers. Read more | 2016-2017 | All elementary |
| Fitbits for Self-Regulation | This Fitbit goes beyond monitoring heart rates to help students with Autism Spectrum Disorder identify early warning signs of escalation and then self-regulate to get back on track. Learn more. | 2016-2017 | WJH |
| Classroom Supports for Self-Regulations | Weighted sensory lap pads, breathing balls, and fidget toys are just a few examples of simple yet effective tools that Harley Hopkins will purchase with this grant. Read more. | 2017-2018 | Harley Hopkins |
| Give Me a Break | HEF is partnering with Glen Lake to expand the school’s current offerings to purposefully and proactively address sensory dysregulation for any student who needs a quiet space or sensory input such as a weighted vest, to focus or calm themselves. Read more. | 2017-2018 | Glen Lake |
| Growing Gardens, Fueling Minds | Four mobile tower gardens (fast growing pyramids of 28 plants) will be rotated through all elementary school cafeterias to engage 6th grade students in nutrition, hands-on food prep and healthy eating. Read more. | 2017-2018 | District-wide |
| Hopkins High School Student Campaign | HEF, along with Community Ed, will co-fund the assistance of Community Blueprint, a local social marketing company that develops successful campaigns around policy, prevention, and behavior change initiatives. Read more. | 2017-2018 | Community Ed |
| Student Wellness = Student Success | Wellness is for everyone, and HEF is partnering with District leadership to establish a cohesive wellness program, solidifying and expanding what is already being done throughout our schools. Read more. | 2017-2018 | District-wide |
| Trauma-Sensitive Self-Regulation Room | Alice Smith Elementary School is one of Hopkins ‘trauma sensitive’ schools, focused on mitigating barriers to student learning, such as high rates of stress and adversity from homelessness, poverty, neglect, abuse, immigration, and more. HEF will now fund a specific Self-Regulation Room designed for sensory breaks. Read more. | 2017-2018 | Alice Smith |
| Let's Learn About Our Amazing Bodies | Preschoolers are naturally curious about how their bodies work (Where does my food go when I eat? What are muscles? Why do I have bones?) and these new hands-on learning materials will provide a fun, exciting way to get those questions answered. Read more | 2017-2018 | Pre-School and Early Childhood |
| Take Charge of How You Feel | In alignment with HEF’s focus on Student Health=Student Wellness, this start-up grant provides ALL Hopkins Junior High 8th grade students – more than 500 per year – with the self-regulating tools they would typically only be exposed to through mental health professionals or sports psychologists. Read more | 2017-2018 | NJH, WJH |
| Game On! Social Learning Through Board Games | Modeled after the popular Chess Club, the Board Game Club will provide fun, challenging student interaction - no electronics allowed! This HEF grant will stock the club with a wide variety of games, including something sure to interest any student. Read more. | 2017-2018 | Glen Lake Elementary |
| Love Yourself Project | HEF is funding the Love Yourself project, a campaign to promote positive messages of self confidence, self esteem, and body image, with the goal of improving student wellness. Read more | 2017-2018 | HHS |
| Student Wellness = Student Success | 2018 Royal Bash Special Appeal, year one of a two-year initiative. This Special Appeal funds after school mental health centers, a farm-to-table program, and teaching wellness strategies. Learn more | 2017-2018 | District-wide |
| MCubed (Math x Mental Health x Mindset) | MCubed is an innovative and exciting approach for bringing students up to grade level in math while practicing life skills in a socially, emotionally safe afterschool setting. Targeted students are those facing a variety of ACE’s (Adverse Childhood Experiences). Learning the ‘hard skills’ of math dovetails well with training in the ‘soft skills’ needed for all areas of their lives. Read more. | 2018-2019 | NJH |
| PAWSitivity | A working Facility Dog will report every day to WJH and be scheduled in a variety of services and activities. It will truly be a community dog promoting relationships with and between students, offering emotional support such as de-escalation, coping with daily stress, and processing emotions to succeed in school. Read more | 2018-2019 | WJH |
| Sensory Path - Much More Than a Yellow Brick Road | Sensory motor breaks are an effective tool to promote learning, and an instructional tool for ALL about the importance of sensory regulation. The path will provide these breaks through a wide range of fun activities, requiring students to use their senses and focus their energy. Read more | 2018-2019 | Tanglen |
| Growing Healthy Food and Life-Long Skills | With this grant, Transition Plus (T-Plus) students are expanding their repertoire of marketable skills to include design/build hydroponic grow systems. HEF will fund the tools and materials to seed this new endeavor of the Project Based Learning Class, part of the T-Plus curriculum. Read more. | 2018-2019 | Transition Plus |
| Weightlifting Club | Current members of the new HHS Weightlifting Club (5 male, 1 female) hope to increase their number as they increase their individual strength. The Awesome Fund is adding to the basic equipment purchased by Hopkins High School; the expanded variety will improve participants’ technique and form. Read more | 2018-2019 | HHS |
| Urban Orchard | Plums, Cherries, Golden Raspberries and Pears are the future bounty from Meadowbrook’s new urban orchard, located in a large interior courtyard. Trees and bushes planted this spring will provide curriculum and leadership opportunity for many, many years to come. Read more. | 2018-2019 | Meadowbrook |
| Edible Education: Kitchen a la Cart | This portable kitchen will expand the opportunities for fun, experiential learning, including what constitutes healthy food and good nutrition, math and organization skills, as well as following directions (and the sometimes-foul consequences of NOT following them). Kitchen a la Cart will be housed at Eisenhower Community Center and can be pushed right into the classroom. Read more. | 2018-2019 | Community Education |
| Family Connection Nights | Family Connection Nights, hosted by Harley Hopkins Family Center, aim to connect these parents and caregivers of special needs children in meaningful ways - in a comfortable environment of support and connection with those who can truly understand and share their daily worries and triumphs. Read more. | 2018-2019 | Harley Hopkins |
| SPOT Vision Screener | Early Childhood Screening is required for 3-5 year-olds in MN, and it’s an excellent way to identify potential barriers to school success prior to Kindergarten, including vision deficits.Now, thanks to this HEF grant, the SPOT Vision Screener will provide extremely accurate, reliable, and time-saving measurements. Read more. | 2019-2020 | Harley Hopkins |
| Garden Growers for Food Equity | At the heart of this grant is a new partnership between West Junior High and Transition Plus. The two- and-a-half dozen older students from T-Plus will work with about 50 students with unique needs from WJH. The whole group will cooperatively design, build and grow gardens at both locations. Read more. | 2019-2020 | Transition Plus, WJH |
| EmpowerU | EmpowerU is a highly personalized, online social-emotional course with embedded daily coaching from trained therapists. It is designed to overcome the kind of crippling anxiety that causes withdrawal and absenteeism. Read more. | 2019-2020 | HHS |
| Mandala Stone Painting | Mandalas are geometric figures that have been used for centuries for mediation and personal transformation. At NJH, all students will get the opportunity to create mandalas by painting dot designs on stones they can take home. Read more. | 2019-2020 | NJH |
| The Closet | Opened last year, The Closet is an LGBTQ+ resource library housed at WJH in the Gay Straight Alliance (GSA) headquarters, open to any student. HEF is providing funds for a wide range of reading resources to represent the LGBTQ+ community in all its facets, which in turn provides extra support for ALL students to see themselves in positive and affirming ways. Read more. | 2019-2020 | WJH |