Jan. 18, 2018
Contact: Judith Cebula
317.916.7327| cebulaj@lei.org
INDIANAPOLIS – Throughout the school year, they inspire students to explore, inquire and become life-long learners. This summer, 100 of Indiana’s K-12 educators will have the opportunity to restore their own love of learning through the 2018 Lilly Endowment Teacher Creativity Fellowships.
Now in its 31st year, the Endowment’s Teacher Creativity Fellowship Program gives teachers, principals, school counselors, and school media specialists and librarians financial support and encouragement to renew their commitment to the education profession.
Each fellow will receive a $12,000 grant to support a project of personally and professionally fulfilling activities. These educators work in a variety of Indiana schools – traditional public schools, charter schools and private schools – both religiously affiliated and independent. The schools serve diverse communities, from urban neighborhoods, small towns, rural areas, mid-sized cities and suburban communities. Read the complete list of 2018 Teacher Creativity Fellows here.
Many of the educators will use their fellowships to travel – across the United States and around the world. They plan to visit iconic western U.S. National Parks, make pilgrimages across Europe, and travel to Canada, Kenya, Tanzania and Russia. The educators are delving into beloved hobbies and interests or exploring new ones: learning to surf in Hawaii and sail in the Florida Keys; examining zero-waste practices at Yosemite National Park; exploring culinary cultures across Europe; and discovering family roots in Vietnam.
One music teacher will spend the summer taking part in jazz clinics across the nation, interspersed with silent retreats at monasteries. Another will lern to play steel guitar in Nashville, Tennessee. Several teachers will commit to creative writing workshops. Others will explore science projects in geology, ecology and biology.
“Dedicated educators across Indiana have dreamed big and created inspiring projects that promise to nurture them both professionally and personally,” said Sara B. Cobb, the Endowment’s vice president for education. “For more than 30 years, participants in the Teacher Creativity Fellowship Program have shared with us how their projects have helped renew their commitment to education and the students they serve.”
Including the 2018 class, more than 2,900 Indiana educators have received grants since the Teacher Creativity Fellowship Program began in 1987. The Endowment selected the 2018 fellows from a competitive pool of more than 540 applicants. In addition to grants that support the renewal of educators, the Endowment funds programs that offer renewal grants to people working in the human services sector and in the arts in central Indiana and clergy who pastor churches in Indiana and across the nation.
About Lilly Endowment Inc. is an Indianapolis-based private philanthropic foundation created in 1937 by three members of the Lilly family – J.K. Lilly Sr., and his sons Eli and J.K. Jr. – through gifts of stock in their pharmaceutical business, Eli Lilly and Company. While those gifts remain the financial bedrock of the Endowment, the Endowment is a separate entity from the company, with a distinct governing board, staff and location. In keeping with the founders’ wishes, the Endowment supports the causes of community development, education and religion and maintains a special commitment to its hometown, Indianapolis, and home state, Indiana.