By Lisa Carolin
South Meadows Elementary School is the recipient of a $500 grant given through the Exxon Mobil Educational Alliance program.
Ken Heers of Lenawee Fuels, who owns the Perky Pantry in Chelsea, applied for the grant and chose South Meadows as the recipient.
The grant is earmarked to be used to benefit math and science programs.
“We are at the initial stages of implementing STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) programs, but STEM is definitely a large component in the future of education and will serve our students well as 21st Century learners,” said Stacie Battaglia, principal of South Meadows, who is thrilled to receive the grant.
“Right now, we have a fourth-grade teacher piloting a science unit through Project Lead the Way, which is a hands-on STEM based program. We also have several teachers who implement critical thinking and technology into daily lessons and projects so that our students are becoming innovative, creative thinkers.”
Battaglia cites MakerSpace as one of the ways to implement STEM based learning into the schools. MakerSpace is set up for students to use for building, creating, and thinking while using communication and collaboration skills.
“Here at South we are in the midst of renovating our Media Center,” said Battaglia. “One aspect we are looking to incorporate is a MakerSpace center. The $500 from Exxon and Lenawee Fuels will allow us to purchase materials for that space. This could be anything from coding robots and circuit boards to building materials and Legos; we are excited to make those choices.”
She says receiving this kind of grant and what it allows the school to do is at the forefront of school district goals.
