The Council for Exceptional Children gave Grand Valley State University student Mackenzie Kroll one of the four grants in Michigan to create and present a project of her choice in the field of special education.

The CEC is an international organization dedicated to educating students with special needs. With the grant money, Kroll is required to present what she learns in her project later on in the year.

Kroll’s project will use the $200 grant to incorporate new books into her student teaching curriculum with the special education students at Highland Middle School.

“My grant proposal was to buy books of different cultures and to build a curriculum around them in my student teaching program and other places,” Kroll said. “The books I came up with were specifically aimed toward Asian/Asian American cultures and people with disabilities.”

Kroll said that as an Asian American, she discovered that there is not enough information concerning cultures like hers and other minorities in schools today.

“I want to ensure my students have exposure to as many perspectives and cultures as possible,” Kroll said. “I bought these books because I feel there is a lack of different cultures presented in the school systems.”

With a total of 18 new books, Kroll said she is already thinking of new and interesting ideas she can bring to the classroom.

“The class I’m in really focuses on life skills and community based things,” Kroll said. “I want to incorporate my books by having students make recipes from certain cultures and create different cultural decorations.”

Kroll said she would like to incorporate lessons about adoption into her curriculum because she was adopted.

“Some of the books I’ve chosen also have to do with adoption,” Kroll said. “My first experience with student teaching was at Grand Haven High School, and after teaching the lesson on adoption I gained a lot of courage to write my proposal for the grant.”

Kroll said the kids at Grand Haven High School learned a lot from her lesson on adoption, and that it made her want to share this kind of material with other students.

GVSU professor Jill Warren said Kroll is very deserving of the grant from the CEC.

“’Kenzie is an intelligent, caring teacher candidate,” Warren said. “Listening and observation are key components in teaching and Kenzie has already mastered both.”

Warren described an instance in which Kroll used her teaching abilities to help one of her challenged students.

“In one case, a challenged high school student simply refused to write anything,” Warren said. “Kenzie gave him a mechanical pencil, and his entire attitude and desire to write changed. There was something in this one simple act. Sometimes the small acts of kindness, which appear so simple, show others we care and understand about their challenge. She is a Laker to watch going forward.”

Kroll said that while she does not know where she will be taken after student teaching, she hopes the books she bought with the grant money will positively effect all the students she comes in contact with.