WESTFIELD TWP. -- Westfield Insurance Foundation has awarded Cloverleaf Schools a nearly $20,000 Experienced-Based Learning Grant to provide students impactful educational opportunities, complementing classroom instruction, such as areas of career-readiness, safety and financial literacy.

Experience-based learning is firsthand knowledge gained by doing, observing and interacting. It is accomplished through innovative educational tools and hands-on activities, or by students traveling beyond the classroom to engage face-to-face with manufacturers, university researchers, financial sector leaders, and others.

As a district emerging from Fiscal Emergency designation by the State of Ohio, experience-based learning opportunities at Cloverleaf have been sharply limited in recent years by a lack of funding. This latest grant from Westfield Insurance Foundation gives students additional opportunities as part of a balanced education experience.

“A healthy school system contributes to a thriving community, and in our role as a corporate citizen, we continually look for ways to enhance the great education Cloverleaf Schools provides its students,” said Jim Clay, Westfield Group CEO & Chairman. “Westfield has been a part of this community for 166 years. During that time we have employed many Cloverleaf graduates … and will continue to do so.”

Grant applications submitted by Cloverleaf staff are reviewed by a committee of district administrators and guidance counselors, who closely evaluate each proposal to make sure it aligns with the mission of the grant. The grant is available to all grade levels and academic content areas.

“Experience-based learning gives our students the ability to connect the classroom to real-life learning experiences,” said Cloverleaf Superintendent Daryl Kubilus. “I am grateful that Westfield Insurance shares this belief and has made a considerable investment to insure that students of Cloverleaf can access these valuable learning opportunities. We at Cloverleaf are fortunate to have Westfield Insurance as a community partner so vested in the learning of our students.”

Westfield’s support of Cloverleaf began many years ago, but going back just 10 years, Westfield’s contributions total more than $400,000 in addition to Stuff the Bus (school supplies for back-to-school rally) and computer donations.