St. Patrick Catholic School teacher awarded $500 grant

LANSING, Mich. (WILX) - A high school teacher in Portland has been nationally recognized for his work during the pandemic and received a $500 grant from the National Society of High School Scholars.

Jordan Smith, a science teacher at St. Patrick Catholic School joined thousands of other teachers nationwide in switching to online learning when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. For his creative work he received a $500 grant. He said he is humbled by the recognition of his hard work.

Smith said, “It’s a really good feeling. It’s a nice pat on the back. The past two years have been hard.”

Smith was creative with his assignments, using online simulators and the outdoors to keep students engaged.

“I had a cloud scavenger hunt for one of my classes, gathering data, weather, really anything to get you off the screen for a little bit,” said Smith. “Doing at-home labs using things you have around the house. I had a lot of fun adapting things I would normally do here to make sure the students were able to do them at home safely.”

This past spring smith applied for a national grant and was one of five recipients. He is putting his winnings towards revamping the classroom. His first stop was tackling the outdated chalkboard and adding new hooks to hang the students’ lab coats.

Smith said there is some money left over and he wants to continue updating classroom resources.

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