By HANNA MORDOH
WISH-TV | wishtv.com
Every month, WISH-TV highlights a local school district with “The Morning Bell,” a conversation focused on new or exciting programs and accomplishments within Indiana schools.
On Monday, Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness joined Daybreak along with David Young, communications and media arts department chair at Hamilton Southeastern High School, to discuss the city’s Educator Innovation Grant program. It supports innovative educational projects in Hamilton Southeastern Schools.
The program began with an initial allocation of $500,000 and will grow by $50,000 annually. The city says that since the program launched in 2024, Fishers has distributed nearly $385,000 in grants across every grade level at HSE Schools. So far, more than 24 grants have been distributed, funding projects like innovative makerspaces, STEM programming, and professional development opportunities for teachers.
Fadness explained how he came up with the idea.
“I’ve been interacting with a lot of teachers at HSE, like David, who had great ideas but just didn’t have the seed funding to take these innovative ideas to the next level. In the city of Fishers and our City Council, we’ve managed our money pretty well. We had some resources available, and we thought, ‘What better investment than back into our schools to kind of further the educational cause here in Fishers.”
Young says the money made a big impact on Southeastern Media Network, the student media program at HSE High School.
“It allowed us to expand a lot of our programming to go to more classes, but then also just that opportunity and experiences for kids. That’s the big difference: getting that higher-end equipment. Our students are leaving with portfolios that are challenging most college-aged kids with those opportunities and what they can do and how they cover not only sports, but everything within our community and school.”
Grants are awarded by a selection committee made up of former HSE Schools educators, community entrepreneurs, and HSE alumni. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis, and there is no funding cap for project requests. The next round of grants will be awarded in spring 2026.
“We really like having educators lead this,” Fadness said. “They know what’s going to be effective in the classroom more than I would, and so these teachers take it on themselves to fill out these applications, come up with these ideas. We evaluate those, and then we invest appropriately.”
Listen to the full interview to learn more about the grant program. Interested teachers can apply here.
Recent grant recipients include (from the top) Erin Gastineau, Shannon Foster, and Will Hurst. (Photos provided by City of Fishers)
The most recent round of grant recipients includes:
- Melanie Mullins (2nd Grade, Harrison Parkway Elementary): $8,590 to fund a K-4 STEM Lab Starter at the school, including purchasing hardware for the lab and supporting “in-district” professional development opportunities and educator collaboration.
- Shannon Foster (4th Grade, Lantern Road Elementary): $5,445.69 to implement a LEGO Learning System to introduce students to foundational STEAM concepts related to creativity and problem solving.
- Nicolle Symons (5-6th Grade, Fall Creek Intermediate): $10,548 to support the creation of a makerspace at the school where students can design, build, and explore science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, while providing meaningful career exploration.
- Erin Gastineau (10th grade, Hamilton Southeastern High School): $11,700 for the purchase of Manikens® for the course Human Body Systems, the second year of a four-year Project Lead the Way Biomedical Pathway. This course helps students prepare for a career in health care and challenges them to solve real-world problems.
This story was originally published by WISH-TV at wishtv.com/news/education/fishers-grants-support-education.
