April 8, 2019
By: Dwayne Page
The Tennessee Valley Authority, in partnership with Bicentennial Volunteers Incorporated (a TVA retiree organization), has awarded Smithville Elementary and DeKalb County High School each $5,000 for a STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) education project. Locally, the grant program is also supported by the Smithville Electric System. The Smithville Elementary School grant application was written by Computer Lab instructor Beth Cantrell and Kindergarten teacher Tanya Howard. Supervisor of Instruction Dr. Kathy Bryant and DCHS math teachers Amy Fricks and Cody Burton wrote the grant application for DCHS.
(The Smithville Elementary School Makerspace will include Dash & Dot robots similar to those shown here at the DCHS makerspace. These small and mobile robots drive around making noises and shining lights. The robots help kids learn the basics of robotics and coding at home or in classroom settings).
IMG_1290 from dwayne page on Vimeo.
The Board of Education will be asked to accept the grants during this week’s regular monthly meeting.
The grant awards are a part of $580,000 in competitive STEM grants awarded to 161 schools across TVA’s seven-state service territory.
“We are so excited that these materials are coming to Smithville Elementary,” said, Anita Puckett, Interim Principal at Smithville Elementary. “This grant will benefit every student in our school, and we are so thankful to the TVA and BVI for offering these grants..”
Across the valley, educators submitted projects large and small, to further their STEM education initiatives in the classroom.
The project Smithville Elementary submitted will create a makerspace and STEM Lab for their students to use which will expose them to multiple STEM experiences and careers while also strengthening their core academic skills.
“The $5,000 TVA mini-grant awarded to DCHS will be used to incorporate a designated area to our makerspace called Exploring Our Environment. This area will be devoted to Physical, Environmental and Biological Sciences,” said Dr. Bryant.
“In a district where agriculture is one of the economic means, the proposed learning area will service all science classes at the high school and will also be utilized for the district after-school program,” she said.
The primary goals of this project are to increase and enhance hands-on lab opportunities for biology and physical science, to directly teach environmental responsibility and sustainability concepts, and to perform student-led school energy audits.
The makerspace is available for district field trips for all five district schools,
“Students of all grade levels, as well as their families, will have access to the equipment during our outreach STEM programs and during the school day,” said Fricks.
“We expect students to gain a better fundamental understanding of our environment and the important role that each one of us play in our ecosystem,” added Burton.
“Exploring Our Environment will allow students to engage in career exploration where they can identify challenges in their environment and create innovative solutions to improve quality of life for a sustainable future,” he said.
“Again, we appreciate TVA and BVI for their continued support in the endeavor to make these opportunities possible for our students of DeKalb County,” concluded Dr. Bryant.
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.
“The goal of the program was to help further STEM education across the valley,” said Rachel Crickmar, TVA Community Relations Program Manager. “We knew this program would be popular and competitive and now we’re are looking forward to seeing the impact these projects have.”
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.