Nine teachers awarded Leo Seal Innovative Teacher Grants

August 26, 2022

WXXV Staff,

Today, Hancock Whitney in Gulfport hosted an awards luncheon at the Great Southern Club for this year’s Leo Seal Innovative Teacher Grants.

Nine of South Mississippi’s most outstanding teachers earned up to $2,000 from the Leo Seal Innovative Teacher Grants funded by Hancock Whitney.

The grant funds creative learning projects that enhance student learning experiences from grades K through 12 in various subjects.

This year’s grants winners hail from schools in Bay St. Louis, Biloxi, Carriere, Ocean Springs, Pascagoula, and Pass Christian.

The Leo Seal grants were on pause for two years because of the pandemic. Paul Maxwell, senior communications officer for Hancock Whitney, says the bank is glad to once again host the event that acknowledged not only the 2022 winners, but winners from 2020 and 2021. “Teachers and schools have faced such challenges particularly in the past two years. This is an opportunity to show that despite those distractions and those disruptions that they faced with the pandemic they were able to develop projects and help them prepare them for the real world.”

Teachers each year are encouraged to submit an online appreciation for the grants. Ten to 12 teachers are chosen each year. “The applications that the foundation receives, they choose individuals to submit full teaching proposals, and from those proposals, a selection committee that is not affiliated with the bank picks the winners.”

Sarah Badeaux, who teachers sixth, seventh, and eighth grade, is one of the 2022 grant winners from Pass Christian. Her proposal emphasized getting creative through virtual technology using headsets. “With those headsets, we plan on creating our own escape games and solving escape games. I’m just excited to open that world up for the kids.”

For more information on submitting an online application for 2023 grants, visit hancockwhitney.com.

This year’s winners are: