Teaching his welding students at Lawton High School on a sunny Tuesday afternoon, Kelly New didn’t expect much …. until members of the Lawton Public School Foundation surprised him with a $12,000 grant for the third time in a row.
In the middle of session, the class was alerted to whooping and hollering by LPSF members and other entities congratulating and giving him his certificate.
New was excited to earn the grant.
“It’s great,” New said. “We get more equipment and the kids are able to do more projects, different types of projects. The kids will make the projects and sell them, then money goes right back into the program.”
The grant will go to a new plasma cutting machine and welding supplies, according to the certificate.
“With this grant, we’re able to get a machine that’ll cut different types of metal, like aluminum and different things, and be more creative,” New said. “It’ll give us the ability to have more welding rods to weld different types of metal like cast iron and steel. They can learn different techniques on different types of steel.”
Kara Tipton-Smith, LPSF board member, said this is his third time getting the grant.
“We’ve been able to help support this welding room for about three years,” Tipton-Smith said.
LPSF raises money yearly that goes towards many different incentives such as grants, Tipton-Smith said.
“We have donors that help sponsor teachers and we go through the grant process,” Tipton-Smith said. “This year, we had over 350,000 grants requested and we were able to fund 145,000 this year.”
They’ve been giving grants for 10 years, having funded over $1 million worth of grants over time, Tipton-Smith said. With that in mind, there’s a process to who gets a grant and for how much.
“They fill out an application and then we score it,” Tipton-Smith said. “Then we have a meeting where we discuss it over eight hours and decide who we can grant. (New) just wrote a very good grant.”
New has been teaching for about 30 years. He applies for the grant every year.
Want to reach a local audience and grow your business?
Our website is the perfect platform to connect with engaged readers in your local area.
Whether you're looking for banner ads, sponsored content, or custom promotions, we can tailor a package to meet your needs.
Contact us today to learn more about advertising opportunities!
CONTACT US NOW
