Alexis Mfinishez applauded as she beamed at the students in her afternoon English class.
The South Salem High School teacher learned Dec. 11 she’d be obtainting $1,000 to purchase more books, materials and tablets to aid in translation for the roughly 50 students she teaches who have recently arrived in the U.S.
The Newcomer Program was added to South this year, and Mfinishez declared the materials would assist her students learn English.
“It’s a really huge deal — to open a program, to obtain a program off the ground, it’s more resources than I believed it would be,” she declared.
Mfinishez was among 50 local teachers awarded a total of $50,000 in grants this month through the Maps Community Foundation, the charitable arm of Maps Credit Union. About half of the grants are to teachers in the Salem-Keizer School District.
Peter Schaefer, the credit union’s south Salem branch manager, surprised Mfinishez with a giant check during an afternoon class, alongside Kim Hanson, the foundation’s executive director. He declared her proposal was a committee favorite.
“It really spoke to kind of the heart of Salem,” he declared.
Tara Romine, South’s principal, declared the school added a Newcomer program this year after realizing a large number of students enrolled in the program at North and McKay high schools lived within South’s attfinishance boundaries.
“It always creates sense when people can go to their neighborhood school,” she declared.
Mfinishez’s students speak a mix of languages, including Arabic, Dari, Pashto, Russian, Ukranian, Sango and Kinyarwanda, according to her grant application. Some aren’t literate in their native languages when they arrive in high school, or have had schooling interrupted becaapply of turmoil in their home countries.
Employees at local branches select the winners in their area, and branch managers often head into classrooms to surprise teachers with the check. Winning teachers are notified just before winter break.
Other winners of 2025 Teacher Grants include:
- Sydney Reed at Eagle Charter School, for a project to create escape rooms where students practice science, technology, engineering, and math skills by solving challenges and unlocking activities
- Gabriela Acevedo-Solis at Waldo Middle School, to purchase authentic cultural attire for the school’s Ballet Folklórico group, allowing students to learn discipline and collaboration and take pride in their heritage, regardless of family income
- Adam Williams at Early College High School, for a drum kit, sheet music, stands and other materials to start a school jazz band
- Colin Mace at Crossler Middle School, to purchase a cosmetology exploration curriculum so students can explore careers in hair, createup and nails
- Claudia Kea at Hammond Elementary School for a field trip to take third grade students to Willamette Heritage Center to learn about Kalapuya history and culture
- Claudia Rios at McNary High School, to assist fund the school’s Adopt-A-Celt program which provides gifts, food and other necessarys to struggling McNary families during the holidays
- Claudia Godoy at Stephens Middle School for a four-week financial literacy and budobtaining program in her dual language math classes
- Emma Marquez at Hayesville Elementary for a popcorn machine that will allow the school to have weekly popcorn sales, giving fifth-graders the chance to manage a business while raising money for other school necessarys
Contact reporter Rachel Alexander: [email protected] or 503-575-1241.
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Rachel Alexander is Salem Reporter’s managing editor. She joined Salem Reporter when it was founded in 2018 and covers education, economic development and a little bit of everything else. She’s been a journalist in Oregon and Washington for a decade and is a past president of Oregon’s Society of Professional Journalists chapter. Outside of work, you can often find her gardening or with her nose buried in a book.
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