Marshwood Education Foundation awards two fall grants

SOUTH BERWICK, Maine — The first $3,380 grant from Marshwood Education Foundation was awarded to Central School second-grade teacher Pam Mulcahey and parent Brian Evan-Jones for “Literacy Through Poetry.” The grant will fund an artist-in-residence program to support second-graders in poetry writing.

In addition, the residency will support a creative writing group for students in Grades 1-3, along with mentors from Marshwood High School. The residency program will work with second-grade students and teachers to help build student confidence and writing skills and improve teacher instruction. Each student will have one poem published and printed by Chapbooks. A student-parent writing event is also planned to give students and parents the opportunity to write a poem together.

The second grant, in the amount of $5,100, was awarded to Diane Reppucci at Eliot Elementary to fund “Local Stories,” an integrated arts project that combines local history, research and community collaboration to create a mural that documents and preserves the stories of Eliot. Two artists-in-residence from “Local Stories” will work with all second-grade students to help them conduct interviews, research and investigations to create a school mobile mural and a live-theater performance.