Weakley County Schools Receive $5000 TVA Grant

Funds Will Foster STEM Learning at Middle Schools
Posted on 01/06/2020
This is the image for the news article titled Funds Will Foster STEM Learning at Middle SchoolsNASHVILLE, Tenn. ― The Tennessee Valley Authority, in partnership with Bicentennial Volunteers Incorporated, a TVA retiree organization, announced the award of $600,000 in grants to educators in public schools to develop science, technology, engineering, and math education projects all across the Tennessee Valley. Weakley County Schools received $5,000 of those funds.

The competitive STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) classroom grant program, operated in partnership with Battelle Education, received more than 290 grant requests from six states across TVA’s service territory and fulfilled 142 of those requests.

“This is the second year we offered this program to the entire Valley and we saw a major increase in grant applications this year,” said Community Engagement Senior Program Manager Rachel Crickmar. “There is a demand in the Valley for workforce development through STEM education, and I am proud of the way TVA and our retirees are responding to that demand.”

The grant monies will be matched with funds from Weakley County Schools’ Career Technical Education budget to cover the $10,000 expenditure of providing mobile STEM labs for each of the county middle schools.

“Weakley County is committed to providing opportunities for all students to explore STEM. Currently, we have STEM clubs and opportunities in our elementary schools and technical/STEM pathways for our high schoolers. However, we have a gap in middle school that we want to fill with this program,” said Lindsey Parham, director of CTE. “This project will expose our middle school students to emerging opportunities for high-skill, high-wage, in-demand careers.”

The mobile labs will be comprised of four sections: science (building manipulatives and robotics), technology (sensors, cables, batteries, motors), engineering (building manipulatives), and math (K'NEX building parts). Each section will include lab activities and guidance for teachers on how to best incorporate the activities in standards-based instruction.

The competitive grant program provided teachers an opportunity to apply for funding up to $5,000 and preference was given to grant applications that explored TVA’s primary areas of focus: environment, energy, economic and career development and community problem solving. Schools who receive grant funding must receive their power from a TVA distributor.

A full list of the grant recipients can be found at www.tvastem.com.

The Tennessee Valley Authority is a corporate agency of the United States that provides electricity for business customers and local power companies serving nearly 10 million people in parts of seven southeastern states. TVA receives no taxpayer funding, deriving virtually all of its revenues from sales of electricity. In addition to operating and investing its revenues in its electric system, TVA provides flood control, navigation and land management for the Tennessee River system and assists local power companies and state and local governments with economic development and job creation.
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