Twelve Tempe educators are among the 500 teachers who received $2,500 each from Fiesta Bowl Charities as part of the Palo Verde Fiesta Bowl Charities Wishes for Teachers Draft Day, presented by SRP.

In its eighth year, the Palo Verde Fiesta Bowl Charities Wishes for Teachers program increased its giving by 25% to Arizona K-12 public and charter schoolteachers, a press release stated. In total, the program granted $1.25 million this year.

The funding will positively impact more than 220,000 students across 73 cities and towns statewide, with 368 different schools receiving grant awards, the release added. A full list of Palo Verde Fiesta Bowl Charities Wishes for Teachers grant awardees can be found here. 

This season’s 500 granted wishes will fulfill requests from teachers in the areas of agricultural studies, arts, math, physical education and wellness, science and special needs.

The grants will provide needed resources such as new reading materials, classroom makeovers, educational events and programs and much more.  

Tempe teachers granted a wish were:

• Alyssa Abbott, a first-grade teacher at Cecil Shamley School in Tempe, will purchase art supplies for their classroom.  
• Stephanie Attridge, a math teacher at Marcos de Niza High School in Tempe, will purchase a class set of iPads for their students. 
• Helene Beck, a K-fourth grade teacher at Wood Elementary School in Tempe, will provide wind musical instruments for their students. 
• Eva Boyd, a technology teacher at Weinberg Gifted Academy in Tempe, will provide coding lessons and purchase robots for their classroom. 
• Lacey Chávez, a Spanish teacher at Tempe High School in Tempe, will purchase art materials for their school's Annual Cultural Craft Day.  
• Thomas Clifton, a special education teacher at Tempe High School in Tempe, will provide flexible seating and a comfortable space for their students.  
• Danielle DeGain, a ninth to twelfth-grade math teacher at McClintock High School in  Tempe, will provide a water bottle refill station for their school. 
• Amanda Evans, a K to second-grade teacher at Fuller Elementary School in Tempe, will purchase Mindware KEVA 1,000 Planks classroom set and the wooden storage bin for their students. 
• Christopher Moryl, an American history teacher at Marcos De Niza High School in Tempe, will update the desks in their classroom. 
• Maggie Mullen, a special education teacher at Joseph P. Spracale Elementary School in Tempe, will purchase supplies for the school garden. 
• Scott Werner, a ninth to twelfth-grade music teacher at Corona del Sol High School in Tempe, will expertly tune steel drums for their students. 
• Katelyn Whalen, a speech and language therapy teacher at Fuller Elementary School in Tempe, will purchase iPads for their class. 

Over the eight years of the Palo Verde Fiesta Bowl Charities Wishes for Teachers, the program has awarded approximately $7 million to more than 2,100 educators, impacting over 920,000 students statewide.  

Established in 2016, the Fiesta Bowl Wishes for Teachers initiative grants classroom wishes to Arizona teachers in K-12 public and charter schools, who often pull spend their own money for classroom materials and activities.