Grants in Action

Thanks to NKSF support, occupational therapist Daniela Muñiz and speech-language pathologist Shelley Dahl filled their sessions with games and adaptive tools that turn hard work into play and help every student take part.

At David Wolfle Elementary, thanks to NKSF support, librarian Mayra Gaal added a bright, welcoming story-time rug. A gathering place where the school’s youngest readers come together to listen, wonder, and belong.

At Vinland Elementary, a Drama Club gave 30 fourth- and fifth-graders something bigger than a stage: the courage to be seen. Thanks to NKSF support, students spent months bringing Seussical to life, learning lines and choreography, and learning to lean on each other when things got hard. This is more than a play; it’s confidence, empathy, and a community that lifts its kids up.

At Vinland Elementary, a club called Raíces Unidas turned cultural pride into something the whole community could gather around. Thanks to NKSF support, the Dual Language Program created a space to celebrate Hispanic and Latin American cultures, growing from a handful of students into a Día de los Muertos celebration that drew hundreds of families. This is more than a club; it’s belonging, heritage, and a community that shows up for one another.

At Poulsbo Elementary, a new club gave the school’s youngest students something they don’t usually get first: a makerspace of their own. Thanks to NKSF support, principal Debra Audet launched a LEGO club for kindergarten through second grade, where 58 young builders shared ideas, solved problems together, and found their voices.

In a kindergarten classroom at Hilder Pearson Elementary, the day often starts with a deep breath, led by a five-year-old. Thanks to NKSF support, teacher Michelle Scarr added comfortable spaces and hands-on SEL and STEM materials to her room, giving her youngest learners new ways to settle in, focus, and create.

The KMS PE department added Castle Squares 9 Square kits to its physical education program with support from NKSF. The game is fast, low-impact, and easy to join, which makes it a good fit for the large classes PE teachers work with every day.

Thanks to a North Kitsap Schools Foundation grant, Kingston Middle School librarian Lynn Atherton grew some small cardboard building challenges into something many more students can be part of.

Mental health is one of the most important and personal topics students can explore, especially during the high school years, when identity, relationships, and self-awareness are taking shape. For some students, these conversations can feel difficult to start. For others, they can feel long overdue. But sometimes, all it takes is the right story to open the door.

Kingston Middle School’s Crafty Cavs take the library’s new sewing makerspace on a shakedown run.

At Hilder Pearson Elementary, an NKSF grant provided sensory tools and hands-on STEM materials for students in the ISP Special Education program. Designed to support small-group STEM and social-emotional learning (SEL) activities, these resources are helping students in grades 1–5 stay calm, focused, and ready to learn.

What may have looked like a grant for professional books was actually something much bigger: an investment in teachers and in the future of math instruction.

At Poulsbo Elementary, the gym is filled with color, laughter, and giggles as students lift a brand-new parachute together—no one left out, everyone part of the fun. Adding stopwatches for friendly challenges and goal-setting has made PE with Mr. Webb a place where students move, grow, and smile every single day.

Thanks to support from the North Kitsap Schools Foundation, that moment is happening again and again at Suquamish Elementary. Through the Book Bag Program, 52 first and second-graders were able to take three high-quality books home each week, bringing stories beyond classroom walls and into living rooms, kitchens, and bedtime routines.

Last year, an NKSF grant helped repair 23 school-owned band instruments, ensuring they are once again ready for student use. From flutes and clarinets to trumpets, trombones, baritones, tubas, and more, at least one instrument in every category was restored and returned to the classroom. These instruments are now available to the more than 100 students enrolled in the Kingston Middle School Band Program, removing financial barriers and expanding access to music education.

This year, thanks to a North Kitsap Schools Foundation grant, students across Choice Academy, Kingston High School, and North Kitsap High School embarked on a shared journey through The Hobbit. For the length of that journey, every student had a copy in hand—turning pages together, stepping into Middle-earth, and discovering the kind of storytelling that lives beyond trailers, special effects, and end credits. And that’s where the magic really happened.

The Olympic Regional Chess Championships recently concluded at North Kitsap High School, serving as a vital competitive venue for 67 local students. Beyond the boards, the event highlighted a masterclass in community support and student-led initiative.

At Suquamish Elementary School, the rock river has long been part of the campus—something students pass on their way to class, something that quietly belongs to the place. This year, it was refreshed through a project inspired by the book Only One You, giving students an opportunity to engage with that familiar space in a new way.

At the North Kitsap Schools Foundation (NKSF), we believe the arts have a special way of bringing students and community together—and last spring, NKHS Drama proved it in a very fetch way with their production of Mean Girls: High School Version.

When the North Kitsap School District says it is All in for All Students, that motto extends beyond a commitment to providing equal, inclusive, and comprehensive education for every learner at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. Some special needs students with disabilities that affect their learning throughout the grade levels may also require additional support beyond the classroom. The NKHS Bridge Program provides these students (up to age 22) with life skills