For some time now, Cyndi Kirklin has wanted to wean her students and herself off Adobe PageMaker and get in line with the popular Adobe InDesign to produce Sparks High School’s student newspaper.

But with the Washoe County School District’s budget crisis and limited resources, there wasn’t likely to be any money to purchase the software any time soon.

A grant, however, created by the Nevada Public Education Foundation (NPEF) and Wells Fargo, created the opportunity to save Kirklin’s journalism class from pasting up its pages for the publication that covers teen- and school-related issues.

“It just brings us up to date,” Kirklin said. “It allows you to do things PageMaker doesn’t. I think of (InDesign) as a combination of PageMaker and Photoshop.”

The Grant a Wish program recently distributed $70,000 in grant money to schools across Nevada. Four Sparks schools — Sparks High, Reed High, Sparks Middle and Mitchell Elementary — received a portion of that money to meet needs that would not otherwise be funded by the district.

Schools could apply for up to $3,000. Mitchell, Sparks Middle and Reed High received $2,999 while Sparks High only requested $1,567.

Kirklin said Sparks High’s budget provides just enough to produce the paper, thus having extra allocations proved beneficial for her class.

“We never got the money (for the software),” she said. “The school barely covers the cost to print, so coming up with $1,600 extra dollars to buy a new program is a little impossible.”

Kirklin’s request was granted because the newspaper is considered a career class.

Hilarie Robison, executive director of the NPEF, said the program that began about five years ago promotes innovation by targeting four specific areas of interest: financial literacy, technology, math and careers.

“Teachers have flexibility and provide innovative ideas for kids with the help of the grants,” Robison said.

Sparks High wasn’t the only school to apply its funding toward publishing. Sparks Middle School used the dollars for buying laptops, a scanner and docking station for students to publish a book about careers in the publishing industry, Robison said.

Mitchell, a recipient of the grant last year, requested to add on to the technology it asked for last year. Having purchased three laptops for English language learning software called Kidspiration, Mitchell sought funds for three more. The program allows kids learning to write in English to compose and save their drafts. Fifth-grade students can use it to help pass their writing exams.

“They were asking to continue this instruction technology for their English language learners ... and we were excited to help fund them with more laptops,” Robison said.

Reed High decided to put its grant money toward business and personal finance software.

“(They wanted software) to prepare students to teach them about careers in finance and a virtual work experience in a world of business and banking,” Robison said. “Virtually, they can apply for a loan for a dream car or a student loan for college. They can learn how to open a checking account or a savings account and get credit.”

Kirklin said she filled out an application, along with a one-page rationale, that asked what she would use the money for and how many students it would impact.

“I don’t know anyone who uses PageMaker anymore, so it doesn’t prepare (the students) for the real world,” she said.

Robison added that one advantage of Grant a Wish is that it can be applied in many different ways.

“There is a lot of flexibility, but whatever the teachers in the school say they need, we’re really supportive,” she said. “This helps fill those gaps.”

Natalie Brown, spokesperson for Wells Fargo, said the company has a real interest in education and investing in students’ futures.

“Supporting our education gives our future laborers future success,” Brown said. “It’s just such a neat program because it helps teachers do what they need to do to make it the best personalized experience for kids.”