With the help of fundraising, LEF awarded honors chemistry teacher Rachmand Tjachyadi and astronomy, and earth and space science teacher Kristopher Phillips LISD Education Foundation (LEF) grants on Aug. 16. They were given $2,485 and $2,480, respectively. The grants are given to teachers for them to buy new equipment and resources for their classrooms. 

Tjachyadi signed up for the grant after receiving an email from principal Amy Boughton on the benefits the funding could bring to his classroom. He said he wanted to introduce new technologies that measure gas pressure and pH, along with an app on student iPads to collect data and replicate real lab environments. 

“The more students we can help impact with the grant, the greater it is,” Tjachyadi said. “When we introduce a topic, many times [students] are just writing on worksheets and don’t collect data through true situations. Now, we have equipment that [students] can use to actually measure that data.” 

The other recipient of the grant, Phillips, said he was shocked when a week into school, a group of students came to award him with the LEF grant check. He applied for the grant in search of funding for water system boxes so students could learn how rivers and streams evolve over time. It was a way to see the evolution of 1,000 years in a matter of minutes without ever leaving the classroom. 

“[The equipment] will make my class that much more engaging and fun,” Phillips said. “It leads to more learning and kids having a good time. The results are so much better.” 

Formerly, Phillips wanted to be a geologist, but after managing a restaurant and getting laid off during the COVID-19 pandemic, he became a teacher instead. Now, through the grant, he said he feels that he will be able to further pursue what he loves to do.

“While searching for teaching jobs, I was considering my personality, desire, and what I wanted to do,” Phillips said. “Some of my former jobs were like pieces of a puzzle, but [few] of them fed my soul. Teaching and building relationships with students really felt like it hit all those boxes.”