Grant writer reports $1.1 million awarded, $2.6 million sought; cybersecurity and TVA STEM grants highlighted

Debbie Presnell, Hawkins County Schools’ grant writer, presented an annual summary of grant activity and program highlights and told the board the district is building multiple funding streams to support instruction and CTE programs.

Presnell said the district applied for 85 grants last year totaling $2,600,000 and received 58 grants totaling $1,100,000; seven applications remained pending at the end of the fiscal year totaling $675,140, and since July 1 the district had been notified that three of those pending grants were awarded totaling $103,003.45. She described those figures as a combined result of central-office efforts and school bookkeeping.

Presnell highlighted several grants: a cybersecurity award of $94,500 intended for a cybersecurity training platform (she said those funds were on hold at the time of the meeting); a multi-year SEED/Slice 22 partnership with East Tennessee State University that brought more than $1 million in support over three years and supplied roughly $87,000 in STEM equipment last summer; and the TVA School Uplift program, which awarded several local schools either $10,000 or a $25,000 total package for energy- and STEM-related projects. Presnell said two schools received the full $25,000 award and that Hawkins County ranked near the top in the region for awards from TVA.

Presnell also described the district’s “Grow Your Own” teacher pipeline: one accelerated candidate, Samantha Tilson, completed an accelerated program and will be hired at Sir Goinsville Middle School. She said six more local employees are interested in completing associate degrees to join the pipeline.

Presnell urged that small grants matter, too, and reported $63,230 in donations recorded to date for school programs (she noted the figure reflects available bookkeeping records and may be incomplete). Board members thanked Presnell; one member said she had shared her grant expertise statewide at a conference.

No formal board vote accompanied the report; Presnell asked board members to continue supporting grant initiatives and partnerships.