The Foundation was tapped for support to obtain Harris Loan memberships, enabling teachers to borrow boxes of culturally relevant materials and the ability to design Culture Stations. These stations provide information on a variety of aspects of a region’s culture, such as language, geography, religion, arts, and cuisine. One Maine West student shared that the stations help them learn “about the different ways people celebrate their culture and the importance of their traditions.” The Foundation also supported, quite literally, a “taste” of the cultures being studied through funding to purchase culture-specific snacks. In October students were treated to plantain chips and butter mints during their African unit. According to one of the grant applicants, Natalie Hohman, “These snacks really helped establish a cultural bridge between our students and what they were learning about in Africa.”
