BULLHEAD CITY – When Diamondback School kindergarten and first grade teacher Angella Hall found out that she had won a $2,500 grant from Fiesta Bowl Charities to help her students improve their reading skills, she said the children were as thrilled as she was.

“They were so happy when they found out!” Hall said. “We love to read.” Hall was one of hundreds of Arizona teachers who applied to the Fiesta Bowl Charities’ Wishes for Teachers program. Applications were verified and then selected by random drawing. This year, the program provided $1 million to 400 Arizona teachers. She was the sole Bullhead City School District applicant randomly chosen this year.

BCSD teachers have received thousands of dollars from Fiesta Bowl Charities since the program began, which Superintendent Carolyn Stewart described as “gratifying and amazing.” In her application, Hall told the judges that some of her first graders missed key kindergarten foundational skills when Arizona shifted in-person classes to online instruction at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We are working on filling in the holes of early reading and working so hard,” she added. “We will master letters and sounds. We will start blending and we will learn to read.”
The books Hall will purchase with her grant will be based on students’ needs and reading difficulties. The goal is to not only help students read, but want to read. “These students are amazing and want to learn each day,” Hall said.

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