Donna Lucas, an MGA student based in Meadville, PA, is currently pursuing her studies in the University's online Master of Arts in Technical & Professional Writing program. During the spring semester, she had the opportunity to enroll in Dr. Monica Miller's English 6200 Grant Writing course.
Lucas shares an inspiring narrative about her experience and insights gained from the course.
"I have been employed by the Conneaut School District since 1998 teaching literature, film, writing, and English language arts courses to 7th-12th grade students. I am currently a seventh-grade writing teacher at the Conneaut Area Middle School. I am a poet, essayist, short story writer, and slice-of-life blogger at 'Days of Part-Time Sunshine.' I happily live with my two daughters, two dogs, one cat, and one husband.
"In early spring, I wrote a grant proposal to the National Education Association and have recently been notified that I'm being awarded an NEA Learning and Leadership Grant for $5,000. This gift will pay for me and three other Conneaut School District English language arts/reading teachers to attend two literacy conferences (PCTELA and NCTE) this fall in Pittsburgh and Boston and to purchase conference resources for our classrooms.
"This was my first time writing a grant proposal. I never would have tried had I not taken a course on grant writing. Months after graduating from the Lindenwood MFA Program, I sorely missed being a student, so in January 2024, I started a new online graduate program - Professional and Technical Writing - at Middle Georgia State University (MGA). I wanted to know more about the business end of writing beyond what I learned in my MFA program and was excited for my first course: grant writing.
"My mother passed away a few days later. I informed my grant writing professor, who happened to be my advisor and the reason I signed on with MGA. Dr. Monica Miller was welcoming, informative, and inspiring. She encouraged me to be an MGA student even when I questioned the benefits of this third master's degree. She knew from my MGA application, emails, and Zoom calls that I was a perpetual student, and she wanted me to have a productive learning journey. She invited me to partake in new possibilities of being a writer, an invisible art if you don't share it with others.
"I had been in a writing slump since the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic and used up my creativity in the classroom and at home with my then-teenage daughters, where it was needed most. Dr. Miller was the one who helped me consider other avenues as a professional/technical writer. She is the one who guided me through the grant writing process.
"She is also a woman who recognized the heavy loss of my mother and sent a sympathy card with a heartfelt message. I was ready to quit the new graduate program due to grief and the loss of writing zest, but there was this card from Dr. Miller. This simple but enormous gesture meant so much and gave me the steam to complete the course and continue in the program (three classes down and seven to go).
"I am forever thankful for the kindness of this dear human who supported me with extended deadlines and authentic feedback that helped me write the grant I won.
"The point of this story is to congratulate the cheerleaders out there who we know or may never meet, the people who share their hearts, prayers, and lessons in ways that may guide us onto paths we were hesitant to take."
