SANFORD - Central Carolina Community College Instructors Bianka Stumpf and Carl Bryan have received learning grants from the CCCC Foundation's Marvin R. Joyner Endowment.

The Marvin R. Joyner Endowment was established to provide financial support for programs that would promote college excellence at CCCC. Dr. Joyner served as CCCC President from 1983 until his retirement in 2004.

"Bianka Stumpf has shown her passion for teaching through engaging opportunities with her students," said Amanda Carter, CCCC's Director of the Center for Teaching & Learning. "Her learning grant, titled 'Rocking Back the Clock: Fifties-Era Kits,' will allow current and future history and humanities instructors to present students with manipulatives that represent the social, political, technological, and economic realities of the decade.

"Carl Bryan has consistently put learning first when it comes to his students," said Carter. "His learning grant, titled 'Four Square in the Air,' is a variance on the game of volleyball. This apparatus will allow twice the amount of participants in a game of Four Square in the Air than a traditional volleyball game.

"The learning grants provide our instructors an opportunity to engage and enhance the classroom experience for students in a way that was previously unavailable due to limited budgets for departments," said Carter. "The creativity our instructors put into these learning grants show how much they care for the students and support our college's strategic plan to put learning first."

Stumpf and Bryan are both enthusiastic about the use of the grants.

"I am excited that the college has afforded me to build something that I think students in all curriculums can enjoy on campus. I am especially pleased that Dr. Joyner is affiliated with these teaching projects as a funding source as he was my first college president, and it is great that his mark on our campus continues to benefit our students," said Bryan. "'Four Square in the Air' will be built at a minimum cost using materials purchased locally. It is an apparatus that can be used for recreation as well as team building skills with different groups on campus. Having access to something that can be cross-curriculum or simply for fun raises interests in student life here outside of the classroom."

Stumpf said the Fifties-Era Kits will allow students to "observe, interact with, and analyze examples of the material culture of the domestic Fifties in the United States to draw conclusions about the era's social, political, intellectual, technological, and economic realities.

"The benefit for students would be that material culture manipulatives would be an engaging way for students to learn the social, political, religious, technological, and economic realities of the decade. By working in groups that circulate to each of the year stations (1950-1959) and physically handling and using objects, students have multiple parts of their brains and bodies activated for learning."

CCCC Foundation Executive Director Emily Hare noted, "Using earnings from this endowment enables the Foundation to provide opportunities for faculty members to pursue excellence in their classrooms outside of what the normal budget allows for. We hope that these projects will continue to enable our students to have extraordinary learning experiences while attending CCCC."

The CCCC Foundation is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization affiliated with, but independent of, Central Carolina Community College. It receives donations of money and equipment on behalf of the college and uses them to promote its educational mission and assist students through scholarships and grants.

For more information about the Foundation, its work and events, visit www.cccc.edu/foundation/. For more information about classes and programs at Central Carolina Community College, visit www.cccc.edu.