In this season of thanksgiving, two-dozen Bossier Parish educators have 60,000 more blessings to count, all thanks to the Biedenharn Foundation.
They each received checks totaling $60,000 at the 12th Annual Sydney Biedenharn Educators Endowment awards ceremony to make their classroom dreams come true. The endowment was established to carry on the legacy of Sydney Biedenharn, who taught in Bossier Parish and whose children attended schools in Benton. Her passion for teaching continues to be paid forward through the work of hundreds of Bossier Parish educators whose grants have been funded over the years and who received a portion of the $635,000 invested to date in Bossier Schools.
“We are greatly appreciative to the Biedenharn Foundation for generously blessing our schools year after year, providing teachers with classroom resources that spark curiosity and creativity in the classroom,” said Bossier Schools Superintendent Jason Rowland. “Sydney Biedenharn had a love for learning, and it’s a privilege to honor her in a way that continues to open doors of opportunity and enhance the educational experience for the students of Bossier Parish.”
Elementary winners of the 2025-26 Sydney Biedenharn Educators Endowment are: Andrea May, Bossier Elementary; Nicholas Cobb, W.T. Lewis; Cherise Kelly, Meadowview; Kirsten Day, Alyssa Kelly and Cailey Davis, Platt Elementary; Tracy Weems, Princeton; Kimmerly Laughlin, T.L. Rodes; and Danielle Chandler and Rachel Lowry, Waller Elementary.
Middle school recipients include: Randy Smith, Cope; and Jennifer Hillman, Jessica Kelly and Angela Glasscock, from Elm Grove Middle.
High school winners are: Adina Cubley, Airline High; Gray Young, Bossier Parish School for Technology and Innovative Learning (BPSTIL); and Col. Tony Zucco, Chief MSgt. Leroy Brown and Allie Lewis, Haughton High.
Those receiving grants at K-12 campus Plain Dealing High School are: Elizabeth Foster, Jennyne Pinter, Katherine Roberts, Kristin Tolar and DeAnthony Lyons.
Learning will come alive through the recipients’ classroom grant projects, which range from light tables for differentiated math instruction and JROTC Marksmanship Safety and Wilderness Survival Skills to DNA/RNA Protein Synthesis Modeling and Enhancing Early Literacy Through Multisensory, Science of Reading Aligned Instruction.