Elementary students in Clark-Pleasant Community Schools will soon have the opportunity to build and program robots as part of new robotics clubs at their schools, thanks to a grant from the Clark-Pleasant Education Foundation.
Along with starting Vex Robotics clubs at each of the five elementary schools this fall, the $20,226 grant will also increase the quality of education for students in science, technology, engineering and math, commonly known as STEM.
That funding will be used to purchase STEM kits for classrooms. Some STEM kits include cardboard tubes, Play-Doh, dominoes and Popsicle sticks that can be used to teach students about design and engineering, according to product descriptions.
Much of that funding will be filtered to the elementary schools and Sawmill Woods Preschool, according to a news release from the education foundation.
“I am so pleased that the foundation could continue to support the area of STEM education and allow us to expand opportunities for our students to further develop creativity and become collaborative problem solvers,” Superintendent Patrick Spray said in the news release.
The Clark-Pleasant Education Foundation, a non-profit organization that relies on fundraising for grants, combined half of a $10,000 grant from Greenwood industrial equipment supplier Endress+Hauser with community donations, including donations from local businesses and individuals, said Trisha Smith, the foundation’s executive director.
Clark-Pleasant schools used the other half of the Endress+Hauser grant for the Whiteland High School robotics club, Smith said.
The $20,226 will be split between the elementary schools, and will pay for Vex Robotics kits, which cost about $330 each. The kits include Lego-like plastic pieces in the forms of beams, shafts, gears, pulleys and connectors that can be used to build robots.
Through that funding, Endress+Hauser hopes to build interest in STEM careers, said Jackie Renforth, an Endress + Hauser spokesperson.
By providing teachers more resources, they can give students more opportunities to fully explore the STEM subjects, said Brandyn Ferguson, Endress+Hauser’s Vice President of Human Resources.
"Our company actively invests in the next generation’s education,” Ferguson said in an email. “With these grants we are helping to fund those cool and creative ideas that teachers everywhere have, but too often lack the resources to bring to life. We are honored to play a small role in generating intellectual curiosity within our community’s children.”
This grant marks the first time the education foundation is financially supporting STEM education at the elementary level, Smith said.
“It’s something they can reuse every year at (robotics) competitions,” she said of the kits. “It starts earlier learning about robotics and STEM. It’s really supporting that growth at a younger level.”
