Education Grant WinnerLeticia McNabb

Science opens a door for kids to not only experiment hypotheses, but also to be creative in inventing something new. That couldn’t be more apparent than with the wonderful world of coding and robotics, where students have the opportunity to explore complex systems through hands-on activities.

Leticia McNabb, educator at Villarreal Elementary, was looking for a way to support her students to build great team chemistry in coding exercises that would also entail a little dose of trial and error. Thanks to Power of the Dollar^® members, she was awarded a $1,000 grant in December 2024 for her “Creative Systems: LEGO-based Learning for Gifted Minds” idea, which she then used to purchase LEGO sets and LEGO Spike kits to enrich her classroom, and allowing her students to be as imaginative as they can be.

“The inspiration for applying, of course, was my GT students at Villarreal,” said McNabb. “Their passion motivates, inspires, and uplifts me. When I saw the Firstmark grant, as a Firstmark member—I’ve been a member since I was 13 and my parents were educators (they got me an account)—I said, let me go for it!”

Creating dioramas from the LEGO sets that they were gifted, students controlled their designs simply by way of their computer! Highly driven to succeed and develop new abstract concepts, Ms. McNabb’s students are not only getting to build unique displays, but they are fostering a connection with the artform that will be useful to them as they move along in their educational journey. With the addition of the kits—kits that will be used in Ms. McNabb’s classroom for years to come—it is also providing her students the ability to just have fun with it!

“I’m noticing more growth with team collaboration,” she said. “They all just come together, get the job done, persevered, had grit and resilience. We tried some things that didn’t work, but we tried again as a team—and they took each other’s perspectives into account. That’s what we’re all about!”