Teacher Awarded Grant for School Wide Stem Challenge

students working on challenge This fall, Jr/Sr High School math teacher Dolores Storey, was one of six area educators awarded grants from the Education Award Program of the College Club. The Education Award Program provides funds for a class project benefiting local students in Berkshire County and Columbia County, N.Y.

Storey was awarded $1,754 to purchase technology and supplies needed for a school wide stem challenge. Jr/Sr High School students worked on different projects including: Mars Rover Challenge, Pet Car Alarm and Smart Water Irrigation Challenge.

“STEM is important because our world depends on it. So many things in our world today involve science, technology, engineering, mathematics. STEM is not just coding and lab coats. It is so much more than that,” said Storey.

Hyde loking at students workCollege Club Awards chairperson, Judy Hyde, recently visited AP Calculus students who worked on the Pet Car Alarm Challenge.

Pets suffer when left unattended in a car with the windows rolled up on a hot sunny day. The temperature inside a car may reach greater than 40 degrees above the outside temperature within an hour due to a greenhouse effect within the closed car. A car equipped with a pet alarm could prevent harm to a pet left inside a hot car by taking action to cool the interior and notify the owner of impending pet harm. This challenge involved understanding the science behind the greenhouse effect and using math, computer programming, and engineering to design and build a pet alarm system using a model car.

In addition to this grant, Technology teacher Rick Jason received an award to create an aquaponics ecosystem to grow enough mixed lettuce for the school lunch program to serve the entire seventh-grade class.