Earlier this year, members of the Joliet West faculty and student body received the opportunity to apply for JTHS Foundation Grants. The district-wide program pulled in a total of 122 applications between the West and Central campuses. The 47 grants that were approved by the Board of Directors brought the final awarded amount to $17,904.73.

The grants have been financially aiding programs throughout Joliet Township since 1998, and since then, over $190K has been distributed to faculty, students, clubs, and other programs. They provide a great opportunity for students and staff to help themselves excel through updating their current supplies or by propelling themselves forward with the purchases of completely new items.  Requests have ranged from sports equipment to technology and have included everything in between.

Available grant money was to be divided between West and Central, so proposals were first split up by campus and were then grouped by student or staff applications. Names of the applicants were not disclosed during the reviewing process, and points were awarded for successes in meeting six criteria components.  Rankings were considered for the title of the proposed project, description of the proposal, explanation of how the grant would impact student achievement, description and longevity of materials, and budget detail. All aspects of the proposal had to be well thought out and appropriately expressed through the application in order to receive the highest number of the 60 possible points. Those points were then ranked and presented to the Foundation Board of Directors for final approval.

An awards presentation was held at the Joliet Township Administrative Center on November 7th. Starting at 7:00, this event served to recognize those selected for a JTHS Foundation Grant and gave each winner the chance to present an explanation of their approved project.