Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum News


	For Immediate Release: December 18, 2006	Contact: Jill Burwitz (ALPLM) (217) 558-8970 office (217) 299-6165 cell
	Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum announce field trip grant recipients Twenty-three Illinois schools to visit the Presidential Library and Museum thanks to Midwest Generation Springfield, Ill. The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum (ALPLM) today awarded field trip grants to 23 Illinois schools to visit the ALPLM. The grant program is funded by Midwest Generation, one of the largest independent power producers in the United States, and administered by the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Foundation (ALPLF). The grants, available to 4th - 12th grade teachers, provide funding for students in eligible schools and organizations to visit the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum. Although school groups are admitted free of charge to the Museum, the grant will help offset transportation and other extraneous costs to schools. "The goal of the grant program is to bring as many students to the ALPLM as funds will allow," said Erin Bishop, Director of Education at the Library/Museum. "The 2006 grant period will offer a total of 1647 students the opportunity to see an original copy of the Gettysburg Address, learn about Ghosts of the Library, see casualties mount exponentially in the Civil War in Four Minutes, and step into many experiences of our sixteenth president from boyhood to assassination." "Midwest Generation is proud to partner with the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library in this effort," said Guy Gorney, president of Midwest Generation. "We are committed to give back to our community, and this project can make a difference by providing learning opportunities for students in our state." Schools receiving grants are: Turner Jr. High, Jacksonville; Shipman Elementary School, Shipman; Raccoon CSD #1, Centralia; Center St. School, Fairfield; Oak Glen Elementary School, Lansing; Lovington High School, Lovington; Vandalia Comm. High School, Vandalia; Ina Grade School, Ina; Century Middle School, Ullin; Wyvetter Younge Middle School, East St. Louis; Jasper Co. High School, Newton; Egyptian Comm. Unit School Dist. #5, Tamms; A.C. Thompson Elementary School, Rockford; Parkview Jr. High School, Lawrenceville; Elverado High School, Elkville; Alton CUSD #11 - East & North Elementary Schools, Alton; Lyon Magnet Applied Learning Academy, Waukegan; Iuka Elementary School, Iuka; Bradford CUSD #1, Bradford; Morton East High School, Cicero; Karel Havlicek School, Berwyn; Riverton Elementary School, Riverton; Medgar Evers School, Ford Heights. This year's grant recipients will visit the Museum between Jan. 1 and Aug. 31, 2007. They will submit an evaluation and final report within two weeks of their tour. Grant opportunities are provided annually to teachers of grades 4-12 in Illinois public and non-public schools that have a low-income student enrollment of greater than 30 percent, as well as not-for-profit youth organizations that serve economically disadvantaged Illinois children. For more information about the Museum's educational programs, visit www.alplm.org/education. ###