Shawnee — “We did it!” An eruption of applause and cheers followed these remarks by St. Joseph Catholic School teacher Lisa Fox after she was surprised during a Wednesday all-school assembly with the news that she was the Kansas-based winner of Farmers Insurance’s nationwide Thank America’s Teachers Dream Big Teacher Challenge.

Fox’s proposal to provide an iPad Mini for each student and replace teachers’ older iPads with new iPad Airs was one of six across the country to win a $100,000 grant.

“That is the best thing that could happen for us right now, so we could have the technology for the kids,” said Fox, who on the morning following the announcement at her school in Shawnee was still visibly overwhelmed by the news. “The whole thing is, we fight for every dime, because we’re a Catholic school. … For our school, it’s amazing.”

At the assembly, officials with Farmers Insurance were on hand to present Fox with an oversized $100,000 check. Kansas Education Commissioner Randy Watson also attended the proceedings.

“This is what we love, that one of your teachers would step forward and say this is so important,” he said.

Fox, a longtime kindergarten teacher at the school, decided to pursue a Dream Big grant in June after seeing the value of introducing beginning computer program coding concepts to her kindergarten students. Her beginning efforts last school year were so successful that students in all grade levels are now taking coding courses using the school’s limited amount of iPads and one computer lab.

Sue Carter, principal at St. Joseph Catholic School, said the more than 330 new iPads the grant will purchase would help pave the way for the school to more fully integrate technology into the classroom and for current and future students to “have a better understanding of the technology they use every day.” The school’s plan is for the iPads to be used in all other instructional areas, too, including math, science and music, Carter said. Some of the funding will also go toward training on the iPads for teachers.

The proposal developed by Fox and several other St. Joseph Catholic School teachers was the only one in the state of Kansas to make it to the finalist level of the competition. And the school’s goal of teaching coding concepts to students as young as kindergarten age is exactly the kind of unique idea Farmers is looking to award through its grant challenge, said Chase Freeman, media relations specialist with Farmers. A lack of funding is also a main factor Farmers officials take into consideration in their selection process.

Once Fox and St. Joseph made it to the finalist level, however, the outcome of their proposal was all up to the voters. Winners of a grant through the challenge all were determined based on online votes from community members in their region. Fox said she received updates each week from Farmers letting her know where her proposal stood in the competition, and it was always good news.

“We had been in the lead,” she said. “I thought we had a chance.”

Fox said officials with Farmers have told her they won’t reveal how many total votes her proposal ultimately received, but she and Carter aren’t terribly surprised by the strong show of support that poured in from friends, family and Shawnee community members, both in the St. Joseph Parish and outside of it.

“Anytime you ask, people have come through in this community,” Carter said.

Given the reaction to Wednesday’s announcement, it’s clear that Fox’s excitement is equally shared by the students at St. Joseph. And they won’t have to wait long before a new iPad is available for them to use throughout the schoolday.

“We hope soon after the first of the year,” Carter said.