During the second round of Get More Opportunities grant approvals last month, high school students from across the district first learned about how to make a pitch. 

 Ariana Smith, City Club of Cleveland Educational Engagement Manager, and an entrepreneur talked to the students about effective communication and how to convince others to vote for the grants they deem worthy of being funded.  

 “You are on an elevator with Jay-Z and you have 30 seconds to explain to him why your business venture is a great idea, and he should invest,” said Smith. 

 She encouraged students to come up with creative ways to defend the grant proposals they would eventually select in the latest round of funding with MacKenzie Scott’s gift to CMSD.    

The budding student philanthropists didn’t disappoint. They began asking questions of their peers.  

“How many people here by a show of hands have watched a movie?” asked one of the students, who sits on the panel of students that determines how Scott’s $20 million unrestricted gift to the District will be spent.    

 “The Cleveland High School for Digital Arts has worked on a lot of movies, but their equipment is nine years old. That is like having an iPhone 3,” the student funder continued in his quest to make a strong case for Digital Arts.  

The student funders were considering a funding request from a CMSD educator at Digital Arts, who had asked for a grant to replace recording and production equipment.  

 At the June meeting for funding grant proposals,  students considered dozens of funding proposals, including the 43 for which they eventually approved.  

Another example of an intriguing request that caught student’s interest was from an educator who asked for money to buy optical equipment to screen the vision of non-verbal students.  

“I wouldn’t be as good as a student as I am if I didn’t have contacts,” she said.  “But for children who are non-verbal they can’t tell the doctor or their parents they can’t see. This equipment will change that.” 

To date, 76 grants have been approved totaling nearly $800,000.  

For more information and to apply for a grant go to https://www.clevelandmetroschools.org/CMSD-Get-More-Opportunities-Fund

The following proposals were approved in May:  

 Opp #105 Designing the Digital Future!