OKLAHOMA CITY — Twenty Oklahoma teachers have received Fund for Teachers fellowships, which will provide them the opportunity to pursue self-designed professional development over the summer.
The educators selected for these fellowships are Diane Clarke, Edmond Public Schools; Anne Kuhbander, Stillwater Public Schools; Sheila Inman, Stroud Public Schools; Sierra King, Pryor Public Schools; Rachel Langley, Riverfield Country Day School (Tulsa); Laura McGuire, Laverne Public Schools; DeLora Mowery, Yukon Public Schools; Julie Pattison, Bartlesville Public Schools; Emily Prichard, Duncan Public Schools; Mykkisu Quimby, Glenpool Public Schools; Erinn Rakes, Bartlesville Public Schools; Darci Reeves, Latta Public Schools; Seth Reeves, Latta Public Schools; Whitney Sanders, Sand Springs Public Schools; Jess Stipes, Colcord Public Schools; Heidi Walter, Edmond Public Schools; Chandler Wilson, Putnam City Schools; Diane Wood, Norman Public Schools; Holly Woodrell, Jennings Public Schools; and Jesse Wren, Riverfield Country Day School.
Oklahoma’s grants are made possible through a partnership between Fund for Teachers, the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence and the Tulsa Community Foundation.
“We are so proud of this partnership and its tremendous impact on Oklahoma teachers and students,” OFE Executive Director Elizabeth Inbody said. “We love seeing educators use their creativity and deep understanding of students’ needs to design transformative professional development experiences.”
The grants are available to Oklahoma educators who teach pre-K through 12th grade. Individual teachers may apply for up to $5,000, while teams may apply for up to $10,000 in grant funds.
The fellowships of King, Mowery, Pattison, Prichard, Rakes, Darci and Seth Reeves, and Wood were generously funded by the Maxwell Hanrahan Foundation, which partnered with Fund for Teachers to award fellowships focused on science and craft experiences for teachers working with underserved students or in rural school settings.
The Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence is a nonpartisan nonprofit that recognizes and encourages academic excellence in Oklahoma’s public schools.
Fund for Teachers strengthens instruction by investing in outstanding teachers’ self-determined professional growth and development in order to support student success, enrich their own practice and strengthen their schools and communities. For more information, visit fundforteachers.org.
Oklahoma’s 2025 Fund for Teachers Fellows
Erinn Rakes and Julie Pattison, Bartlesville Public Schools: Rakes and Pattison, both of Bartlesville, will study the history of London’s theater scene, specifically musical theater, to learn from experts in the field how this art form can improve student achievement in their future life endeavors and personal ownership and growth.
Jess Stipes, Colcord Public Schools: Stipes, a Vinita resident, will complete a language/cultural immersion experience at the Alliance Francaise in Saint Malo, France, to develop personal fluency and raise students’ awareness of opportunities to use their language skills as they enter the workforce and through everyday encounters in a culturally diverse world.
Emily Prichard, Duncan Public Schools: Prichard, a Duncan resident, will learn about the United Kingdom’s sustainable agricultural practices, focusing on no-dig gardening, career education and environmental stewardship to inform the creation of a student-led, on-campus garden project that provides fresh produce to students and the school community.
Diane Clarke and Heidi Walter, Edmond Public Schools: Clarke and Walter, both of Edmond, will attend the 2025 World Gifted Conference in Braga, Portugal, to learn from international thought leaders how to incorporate social/emotional and AI skills into learning for students in a district without a gifted and talented education curriculum.
Mykkisu Quimby, Glenpool Public Schools: Quimby, a Bixby resident, will complete a monthlong Spanish language immersion program in Panama to deepen personal understanding of the language and culture and better support English language learners.
Holly Woodrell and Sheila Inman, Jennings Public Schools & Stroud Public Schools: Woodrell, a Pawnee resident, and Inman, a Bristow resident, will participate in the ZeroSei Project in Reggio Emilia, Italy, to explore innovative, child-centered approaches to early education and gain inspiration for fostering a nurturing, inquiry-based learning environment for young students.
Darci Reeves and Seth Reeves, Latta Public Schools: The Reeveses, both of Ada, will pursue a deeper knowledge in the production of locally sourced produce and how to prepare produce in the Skagit Valley of northwest Washington State to cultivate student interest and equip students to produce and prepare sustainable food.
Laura McGuire, Laverne Public Schools: McGuire, a Laverne resident, will travel across Amsterdam, Brussels and Normandy to research how ordinary people completed extraordinary feats during World War II. This will allow her to further develop Holocaust literature units that underscore that students’ everyday actions can create change.
Diane Wood, Norman Public Schools: Wood, a Norman resident, will document across Spain, Morocco and Portugal the many examples of Hispano-Islamic art, architecture and culture. She will use this information to develop culturally responsive teaching strategies that foster a sense of belonging among a diverse group of students and provide an outlet where they can display their talents and cultivate confidence through the arts.
Sierra King, Pryor Public Schools: King, an Adair resident, will explore Renaissance art and culture in Florence through private art lessons, workshops and cultural tours to enhance art instruction with lessons that inspire student creativity, connect global art history to classroom projects and deepen students’ understanding of how culture shapes visual expression.
Chandler Wilson, Putnam City Schools: Wilson, an Oklahoma City resident, will embark on a pilgrimage along the Camino de Santiago, sketching, journaling and experiencing museums and cultural sites, to create a digital quest from videos at key points that prompts art students to complete projects inspired by the route.
Rachel Langley and Jesse Wren, Riverfield Country Day School: Langley and Wren, both Tulsa residents, will learn about Hawaiian traditions and history while experiencing that unique ecosystem. They will use this knowledge to create interdisciplinary projects exploring cultural preservation and comparing Indigenous Hawaiian peoples and Oklahoma’s Native American communities.
Whitney Sanders, Sand Springs Public Schools: Sanders, a Sand Springs resident, will complete a language and cultural immersion course in Barcelona through the Europass Teacher Academy. She will then experience two dual-immersion schools in London to strengthen Spanish-speaking skills and gain strategies and resources to ease the transition of English learners to a new language and community.
Anne Kuhbander, Stillwater Public Schools: Kuhbander, a Stillwater resident, will participate in workshops teaching languages through stories and myths, engage with professional storytellers on developing multisensory storytelling skills and attend storytelling events across Ireland and Scotland to learn how storytelling can be used as a pedagogical device with young students.
DeLora Mowery, Yukon Public Schools: Mowery, a Blanchard resident, will experience natural phenomenon across the American West in an immersive field experience that fosters a deeper understanding of geological, ecological and physical processes to create real-world applications that inspire students and enhance their comprehension of complex scientific concepts.
