Grant Writing Workshop

The Horizons Program is sponsoring a Grant Writing Workshop for community members and community agency partners on April 4 & 5. The program was honored to have renowned grants trainer Susan Howlett. During the two-day training the following topics were covered:

• Where does money come from (types of sources and where to find them)
• How do you decide what’s a good match for you and your project.
• How do you prepare your organization to be grant-ready.
• Writing a compelling letter of inquiry
• What do grantmakers look for in a proposal.
• What are the standard questions and what are strong answers for each.
• Budgets and other support documents and the stories they tell.
• Cultivation, recognition and stewardship of grantors.
• How to corroborate need.
• How to articulate outcomes or measurable objectives.
• How to develop an evaluation plan.
• An exercise in reviewing real letter of inquiry.

Royal City HS Biotech Award Winning Team

Royal High School represented Eastern Washington at the 2008 Student Biotech Expo in Bellevue last Tuesday, May 28. The five students worked for six months preparing their presentations: Ryan Lefler, a sophomore, designed a molecular model to explain the combustion of biofuels compared to "regular" fuels; Aaron Cedillo wrote a journalism paper about the process of biopulping compared to regular pulping (paper making process); Roberto Cruz wrote a lesson plan to teach an audience about the CCR5 receptor; Victor Godoy-Cortes and Cesar Nunez researched the structure of tetrahydrogestrinone (THG) to design its molecular model using RP-RasMol, a computer visualization program. They all had very professional posters and were very well evaluated by the judges. During the award ceremony, the team was honored with the highest prize of the event: the Award for Excellence in Biotechnology, something like being the State Champions in Biotech. Quite an accomplishment for a rural school!!! – Mario Godoy