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A Vision for Generating Innovation for Teachers and Students
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July 21, 2010, at 06:00 AM
Paula Hinger started the GIFTS fund in part to honor her deceased husband Eric, pictured here.
Paula Hinger
"If we want to encourage those types of innovative ideas we need to provide a way to make them happen.”
Bringing a guest speaker into a high school Honor’s English class might seem a bit ho-hum. Bringing that speaker all the way from Israel is anything but ordinary.
Two years ago, Millard West English teacher Kip Colony took on the ambitious idea of finding a way to host holocaust survivor Livia Bitton Jackson. His class had just finished reading her book, I Have Lived a Thousand Years, and one of his students suggested they invite the author to their class. Ms. Jackson accepted the invitation to come, and Mr. Colony and his students were left with the daunting task of paying for her trip.
Enter Paula Hinger – parent to one of Mr. Colony’s students and supporter of the unique effort.
Five years ago Paula Hinger’s husband Eric died suddenly of a heart attack over Thanksgiving weekend. The family had moved to Omaha that very July and her daughter had just started Russell Middle School.
Hinger has been generously donating to Millard Public Schools since her husband’s death five years ago.
“We talked often about giving back through donating because your memory lives on in your service,” she said. “Eric always wanted to teach and coach when he retired, so giving to the schools puts the money where he’d want it to be.”
When her daughter began attending Millard West High School, Hinger saw an opportunity to do more than just donate money when she witnessed the successful effort of one teacher and his class to bring Jackson to their classroom.
“I decided that what the school needed was a fund the principal could use to bring innovation and inspiration to students and staff," she said
And she has. Hinger has worked with Millard West Principal Greg Tiemann and the Millard School District to start a specific fund for making innovative ideas happen. Aptly named Generating Innovation for Teachers and Students (GIFTS), the program is intended to pay for academic projects not funded by the school system or other boosters.
“If a teacher and some kids come up with a great new idea there is no money to employ it,” Hinger explained. “If we want to encourage those types of innovative ideas we need to provide a way to make them happen.”
The 2010-2011 school year will be the second full year for GIFTS at Millard West. It is a source of inspiration tied not only to the memory of Eric Hinger, but Paula as well.
“If I can get this thing going, then maybe it can live on once Paula Hinger leaves,” she concluded. “I am retired military. I gave 30 years to my country and now its time for me to give to my community.”
All donations to GIFTS are tax deductible and funds are held in a specific account by the principal. For more information on the GIFTS program you can contact her at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
