Chester County receives $12,700 in Utrust grants

Chester County School System has received three mini grants totaling $12,700 from Utrust for activities related to recognition and appreciation of school system employees and students.
Troy Kilzer, Superintendent of Chester County Schools, applied for and was awarded a $10,700 grant to be
used to celebrate and show appreciation to all Chester County school employees. Kilzer wrote, “We believe we have the best employees of any school district in Tennessee, and we want them to know that we value every one of them and deeply appreciate the hard work and effort of all staff to ensure high levels of learning for all Chester County students. We deeply appreciate Utrust making these funds available to our schools.”
East Chester Elementary School received an additional $500 Utrust mini grant to support participation in the Utrust Appreciation Program which encourages students to express gratitude toward school staff. West Chester Elementary School has received an additional $1,500 Utrust mini grant for participating in both the Utrust Appreciation Program and the Culture Initiative. The Culture Initiative broadens the effort of the Appreciation Program to involve parents and community organizations and aims to foster a culture in the school community where everyone appreciates, and everyone is appreciated.
Dr. Dan Tollett, Utrust Administrator, highlighted the district’s commitment: “We welcome the opportunity to be a part of Chester County’s efforts to promote appreciation. I hope that parents and other community members will make a special effort to express appreciation to employees for what they do every day as well as to express appreciation students for the things that do well.”
Utrust is an organization that assists school systems in Tennessee with unemployment issues and in recognizing, supporting and appreciating school employees. It sponsors the Utrust Appreciation Program, a student leadership program that seeks to help students recognize and express appreciation to people who make their lives better each day.
Chester County is one of 51 school systems in Tennessee that will receive Utrust mini grants this month totaling more than $1 million. Utrust has provided more than $113,000 to Chester County Schools.