HCPSS2026 Bright Minds Grants Support Innovative Classroom Projects
September 25th, 2026
Howard County Public School System educators have been awarded more than $30,000 in grants by the Bright Minds Foundation, the school system’s education foundation. The grants will fund 22 innovative school-based projects during the 2026-2027 school year.
The 2026 grant recipients and their projects are as follows:
| Educator(s) | School/Office | Project Title | Project Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kristin Anderson-Little | Oakland Mills HS | Stronger Together: Early Peer Intervention for Student Mental Health Success | Students in the Oakland Mills HS Active Minds Chapter will become peer mental health ambassadors who will lead outreach sessions with feeder middle school 8th graders, to strengthen relationships, teach regulation and management strategies, and provide mental health resources toward a smoother transition to high school. |
| Kelly Baker | Dayton Oaks ES | Nature-Based SEL | A nature-based regulation station will integrate environmental education with explicit social-emotional learning (SEL) activities for students during recess time. |
| Dan Blue | Dunloggin MS | Monarch Mission: Monarch Butterfly Restoration Project | Students will plant milkweed and nectar-rich wildflowers to provide food and breeding grounds for this important species in their natural habitats and migratory paths. |
| Kathleen Borden | Running Brook ES | Let’s Get Reading! | Emergent and reluctant readers will receive enhanced literacy support when they use WonderBooks to listen to a story while following along in the text. |
| Nina Diehl | Murray Hill MS | Creating Together: Building Community and Self-Confidence Through Art | Students will build school community, increase self-confidence, and enhance SEL skills such as teamwork and empathy by participating in whole-school art projects. |
| Caroline Evans and Lisa Goldberg | Running Brook ES | 4 Houses 1 Family | Running Brook ES will continue its Ron Clark-inspired House system to foster belonging, connection, and positive school culture for all students, while increasing family engagement. |
| Robin Few | Gorman Crossing ES | Enhancing Access and Participation in the GCES OT Motor Room | With additional equipment and supplies, the OT Motor Room will provide safe, inclusive, and developmentally appropriate therapeutic support that promotes student engagement, regulation, and functional independence. |
| Suzanne Hughes | Reservoir HS | Heat Mapping the Reservoir High School Campus | Students in Biology GT and AP Environmental Science classes will create a heat map to illustrate which areas and surface materials are hotter versus cooler, to enhance their understanding of climate change, heat-related illnesses and social impact. |
| Nena Hupp | Hanover Hills ES | AI Literacy and Mathematical Reasoning Lab | GT Math students will analyze, refine, and improve AI-generated explanations to deepen conceptual understanding, strengthen mathematical communication, and learn AI literacy and responsibility. |
| Sheila Jones-Wagner and Rochelle Chauncey | Thomas Viaduct MS | Crown Collective: Mentorship at the Viaduct | Through weekly classroom Bridge Time check-ins, mentorship circles, and cross-grade mentorship opportunities, students, especially girls of color, will strengthen their confidence, voice, and sense of belonging. |
| Paul Klink | Lime Kiln MS | Safe Prototyping Lab: Expanding Hands-On Engineering | ChompShop specialized tools will allow middle school students to cut cardboard quickly, safely, and independently, enabling them to focus more on the engineering process of brainstorming, prototyping, testing, and redesigning. |
| Molly Milani and Tara Terry | Marriotts Ridge HS | The Unified Kitchen Project | By integrating adaptive tools into the Life Skills kitchen lab, students with disabilities can fully and meaningfully access culinary instruction, practice critical life skills, and prepare for greater achievement outside of school. |
| Jessica Palad | Bellows Spring ES | Kindergarten Literacy Enhancement | WonderBooks audiobooks allow students to independently read a book while listening to the story at the same time. |
| Joanna Pauley | Deep Run ES | Scan to Understand | Using WorldPenScan devices, multilingual learners and students with reading challenges will receive real-time language support when engaging with text through text-to-speech voice readings and translations available in 57 languages. |
| David Riddler | Centennial HS | Building Future-Ready and Globally-Competent Students | Students will engage in realistic political decision-making, negotiation, and crisis management exercises through a cross-school simulation platform to deepen their understanding of comparative politics while cultivating the skills necessary for active global citizenship. |
| Dallas Rosenthal | Cedar Lane School | LETTUCE Talk About Hydroponics! | Students whose disabilities prevent them from accessing the school’s greenhouse will be able to participate in horticulture using an indoor hydroponic grow tower. |
| Lori Rudolph | HCPSS Vision Services Team | Meet Me in the Middle – Making the Most of the Middle School Years | Building on the success of a previous grant for high school students, this grant will provide a similar opportunity for blind and low vision middle school students to develop social and independent living skills in a fun and interactive environment alongside peers and mentors. |
| Ayla Safren | Hanover Hills ES | Planting Words, Growing Voices | Multilingual learners in kindergarten will build background knowledge and their confidence in speaking and listening, by pairing hands-on instructional materials with structured, play-based speaking activities. |
| Jeeeun Seymour | Bonnie Branch MS | The ALS Greenhouse: Growing Skills and Small Business | Students with disabilities will develop business, vocational, and financial literacy skills while managing the entire life cycle of plants using an indoor grow system. |
| Kerri Shepet | Gorman Crossing ES | Listening to Reading with WonderBooks | Students will use audiobooks to listen to stories as they follow along with the text, activating both decoding and encoding skills as part of a balanced literacy program. |
| Simone Smith and Megan Milholland | Homewood – Passages Program | Homewood Passages Program | Through a combination of structured SEL instruction and weekly experiential activities such as mindfulness, cooking, and team-building, students in the Homewood Passages Program will develop emotional regulation, empathy, and positive decision-making skills. |
| Kelly Storr | Glenwood MS | Seeds of Change: Students Cultivating Science, Sustainability, and Community | Using a restored outdoor classroom, students will engage in hands-on STEM learning by cultivating a school garden and donating its produce to the school and a local food bank. |
The grant recipients were recognized at the Board of Education’s Sept. 24 meeting.
Open to all Howard County teachers and staff, Bright Minds Classroom Innovation Project grants seek to support student success, enrich teaching practices, strengthen school communities, and pilot important classroom and school projects. Bright Minds has provided nearly $300,000 in grants to over 220 HCPSS educators since its inception in 2009.