School Kids in the Park (SKIP)

This fund is designed to familiarize VI students with their National Park through hands on learning and site visits. Mini grants are available to St. John teachers for creative classroom projects that incorporate the natural and/or cultural resources of the Park. SKIP also supports Park ranger-led field trips. Each school year hundreds of VI students experience the Park through educational visits to Annaberg Plantation Ruins, Leinster Bay for a seashore walk, or to the Reef Bay Trail.

Requests for field trip funds should be directed to VINP Education Coordinator Laurel Brannick at the National Park Visitor Center, 776-6201 ex 257.

Possible field trips include:
Tour of Annaberg Plantation Ruins
Seashore walk along the flats of Leinster Bay
Reef Bay Hike
Cinnamon Bay Trail
Archeology lab tour/lecture
Snorkel the underwater trail at Trunk Bay
Beach cleanups

SKIP classroom grants for St. John schools is an effort to encourage teachers to make use of the Park’s resources in teaching science, local history, literature, crafts, ecology, conservation, etc. Activities supported by this fund should help build a greater appreciation of the Park and a sense of stewardship for its natural and cultural resources, and help to develop and reinforce a conservation ethic among St. John students.

Grant Application

Basic Parameters

• Maximum grants will be within a range of $250-500
• Projects must involve an in class project (lowest priority will be given to field trips alone)
• Priority will be given to public schools
• Funds must be used within the school year in which they are received

Application Process

• Application will be a brief (one page) proposal describing how the teacher will use the funds to achieve the purpose described above
• Application for the grant funds will be competitive:
• Applications will all be due December 5th, 2008
• The best applications will be selected, up to the total of the grant fund available
• The principal of the school must approve applications
• While we encourage field trips, a project involving transportation alone will be the lowest priority funded

Monitoring & Reporting

• Grantees will be required to provide a brief report on how the grant funds are used and what are the results achieved
• A compilation of these reports will be provided to the Board at the end of the school year

Please contact Audrey Penn at the Friends if you have any questions, 779-4940.

Please return application to:
SKIP- classroom grants
Friends of VI National Park
P.O. Box 811
St. John, VI 00831
Fax: 693-9973