News Release

May 07, 2008

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PNM Fund Awards $200,000 in Grants to Innovative Teachers

Albuquerque: The non-profit PNM Fund awarded $200,000 to provide more than 90 New Mexico teachers with additional tools for their creative teaching techniques.

“PNM Classroom Innovation Grants allow New Mexico teachers to provide fascinating and challenging educational experiences for our students,” said Diane Harrison Ogawa, executive director of the PNM Fund, a division of the PNM Resources Foundation.

Applications for the annual grants were due in March, more than 180 teachers applied. The awards are announced in the spring, giving teachers time to prepare their programs.

Teachers from pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade in public, private and charter schools throughout the state are eligible to apply. The PNM Classroom Innovation Grant program has been awarding creative teachers for 19 years.

A sample of programs that received funding include:

• $2,000 to Michael Jazen at Taos County Day School in El Prado for “How Far Does the Apple Fall From the Tree?”. An eighth grade class will identify old apple trees of uncommon varieties throughout the community. The class will cut and propagate the trees.
• $2,170 to Raymond Isaac Quintana of Sandia High School in Albuquerque for “Brewing Biodiesel in the Chemistry Classroom”. Students will complete construction of a 15-gallon biodiesel reactor to create batches of biodiesel from waste vegetable oil.
• $1,000 to Jessica Sledzinski of Mesa Alta Junior High in Bloomfield for “Cityscapes”. Students will create watercolor paintings of local businesses and display their artwork in the community.

For a complete listing of the PNM Fund Classroom Innovation Grant recipients, visit www.pnm.com/innovation.

About PNM Fund
The PNM Fund is a division of the PNM Resources Foundation, a nonprofit established in 1983 to improve the quality of life in communities where the company's customers and employees live and work. The PNM Resources Foundation is a separate nonprofit tax-exempt corporation and was originally endowed by a gift from earnings by shareholders of PNM Resources. No customer funds are part of the endowment. For more information, visit www.pnm.com/fund.