RHONDA KOPPELMANN, ROLLA JR. HIGH SCHOOL, RECEIVES SECOND CONSECUTIVE GRANT FROM MISSOURI RETIRED TEACHER FOUNDATION
MRTA is an association of retired educators whose purpose is to promote the professional, social, and economic welfare of all retired school employees while continuing to support the teacher currently in the classroom. Missouri Retired Teachers Foundation is a tax-exempt organization for raising funds to carry out charitable, educational, scientific, and literary purposes of the MRTA. This year MRTF is giving nine $500 classroom grants in Region 7 and two PEERS Grants for a total of $5,500. The state grant total is 126 classroom grants, and 20 $500 Maggie Elder PEERS Grants, for a total of $73,000 given by retired teachers to teachers and other school employees in the state. MRTA fundraises throughout the year to raise the money needed to present these grants to deserving public school employees.
Rhonda Koppelmann, Rolla Junior High School, of Rolla School District 31, in Rolla, Missouri, is a 7th-8th grade history teacher, who wrote a grant entitled “RJH Cares about Its Community” to be carried out during teacher’s Pride Time. The grant is providing funds to create civic-minded students during the teacher’s Pride Time. It has the potential to teach 600 students if other teachers also decide to use the program. These students would become civic-minded students who would exhibit social responsibility, have an elevation in self-esteem, show an increased awareness of social skills and respect for others, and re-thinking career paths, possibly choosing to help others.
Retired teachers from across MRTA Region 7 selected this grant as one of the nine recipients, out of the many applications submitted, for a $500 classroom grant from Region 7.
On September 12, 2022, Rhonda M. Koppelmann was honored at Rolla Junior High School by Georgia White, MRTA Region 7 Vice-President, Martin White, Region 7 Legislative Chair, Rhonda’s Principal, Dr. Monica Fulton, her Assistant Principal Brian Barry, her Superintendent of Schools, Craig Hounsom, Communications Director, Gina Zervos, and Phelps County Retired Teachers and Public School Personnel members, including Betty Green (President) and Susan Bates (Vice-President), and Eleanor Terry. Rhonda was presented with a certified check for $500, a certificate from MRTF President, Karen Miller, and Georgia White, a large replica check for her, and a congratulatory letter from Missouri Retired Teacher Association Executive Director, Maria Walden. MRTF President, Karen Miller, together with the Missouri Retired Teachers Association and Public School Personnel Executive Director, Maria Walden, members of both boards, and the more than 27,000 members across the state who helped to raise the money for the grants, as well as MRTA Region 7 Vice-President, Georgia White, congratulate Rhonda Koppelmann, of Rolla Junior High School in Rolla, MO. She is commended for her work in writing and submitting this creative and vital grant for her classes.