Five Muskogee schools have found a champion in NASCAR driver Jimmie Johnson.

On the heels of winning his fourth consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup championship, Johnson and his wife, Chandra Johnson, announced their donations for the 2009 Jimmie Johnson Foundation/Lowe’s Toolbox for Education Champions Grants on Monday. The grants include $141,324 to Muskogee Public Schools for six projects at five schools.

A native of Muskogee, Chandra Johnson said she is particularly excited about the Oklahoma projects.

“This is our first opportunity to give back in my hometown,” the 1996 Muskogee High School graduate said in a telephone interview. “I still keep in touch with a lot of my friends. I was a cheerleader at Muskogee High School and I remember Chet’s Hot Dogs and Charlie’s Chicken.”

“The Johnsons have always been more than happy to help us with school projects, such as contributing autographed items for school events,” said MPS public information director Melony Carey. “Including us in the Jimmie Johnson Foundation grant cycle this year was such an unexpected and generous act. It really points out what exceptional people they are to be mindful of the needs of the schools in the communities in which they were raised and now live.”

Tony Goetz Elementary will use its $44,764 grant to update and expand its Susan Chaffin Outdoor Classroom to include a literary garden and amphitheater.

“We want to bring learning to life incorporating science, math, literature and the arts,” Principal Malinda Lindsey said. “We will include plants in our garden based on children’s books. For example, for the book ‘Stone Soup,’ we will have vegetables. We will have a fern pot for ‘Where the Red Fern Grows.’ We’ll also enhance our garden with an amphitheater.”

Sadler Arts Academy will use its $41,976 grant for an outdoor classroom.

Creek Elementary Principal Rick Hoos said its $31,684 grant will help the school update and refurbish its shuttle, an old school bus refitted as a mobile classroom that looks like the Space Shuttle. He said the shuttle had not been used for several years.

“The grant will allow us to build Mission Control in a 20- by 20-foot building, which can be used as a reading lab,” he said. “The Shuttle will be a simulated space station with radios and video equipment.”

Pershing Elementary received $10,000 for a parent resource room, which will feature a computer for parents to use.

“Parents who don’t have a computer or Internet at home can use the computer to keep up with their children’s grades,” Principal Vickie Albin said.

Johnson said she attended Pershing until the fifth grade.

MHS received two grants. A $30,000 grant will provide science, math, engineering and technology opportunities to students at MHS and professional development.

A $9,900 grant will help provide a mobile foreign language computer lab to help enhance listening and speaking skills in Spanish, Chinese and Latin, Carey said.

“Since textbooks are now Online, it is an excellent opportunity for all students to interact with the online materials.

Johnson said Carey was her Latin teacher at MHS.

“A lot of things I carry with me, I learned in Latin class,” she said.

The Muskogee grants are among a total of $922,000 the Johnson Foundation and Lowe’s Toolbox for Education awarded to schools in California, North Carolina and Oklahoma. The grants include $347,000 for science and technology needs, $357,000 for outdoor classrooms, playgrounds and athletic facilities, and $27,000 for accelerated reading programs.

Reach Cathy Spaulding at 684-2928 or cspaulding@muskogeephoenix.com



Helping hand

Muskogee Schools receiving Toolbox for Education Grants:

• Creek Elementary School — $31,684, for renovation of its space shuttle classroom.

• Muskogee High School — $30,000 to update science technology and $9,900 to create a foreign language lab.

• Pershing Elementary School — $10,000, to help create a parent/teacher resource room.

• Sadler Arts Academy — $41,976, to create an outdoor classroom as an additional learning environment.

• Tony Goetz Elementary — $44,764 to create an outdoor classroom with a focus on literacy and the arts.