Eric Crouch teaches first grade in his hometown of Columbus, Georgia. He first heard about DonorsChoose.org at a faculty meeting last year and quickly made got his school district on-board. Once that was accomplished, Eric set up a project eligible for a partner-funded Double Your Impact campaign. Within three weeks he had a project funded, and says he “never looked back".When Eric was twenty-one he opened his own photography studio but soon felt that wasn't enough. He wanted to do something where he could "give back". His grandfather once told him, "If you're going to sell something, sell something worth having". Listening to that sage advice, after two years in the business program at Columbus State, Eric decided to be a teacher and switched his major to Elementary Education. He knew teaching would give him the opportunity to both give back to his community as well as "sell" kids an education. He surely made the right choice, as Eric completed his first year of teaching this past June as Muscogee County School District's "First Year Teacher of the Year".While Eric quickly discovered his students have a real drive for learning, he also learned Double Churches Elementary School didn't have a large selection of lower level chapter books. For his first DonorsChoose.org project, his students asked him to request books. They voted, worked on the request together as a class and named their project "We Want Chapter Books!" Within days it was funded and the reading began!
Eric strongly believes without DonorsChoose.org his students would not have reached their potential this past year and is grateful to be able to get these much needed resources into his classroom. Visit Eric's Teacher Page to help him start the school year right, or visit his website for updates on all Mr. Crouch and his students are learning!Blog post written by volunteer Janet Galea
