MITCHELL – Senator Eric Koch (R-Bedford) visited Mitchell Community Schools Wednesday morning, to recognize the awarding of a STEM Acceleration Grant to the school corporation.
“I’m here to congratulate Mitchell Community Schools on receiving the STEM Acceleration Grant. This application is notable because of the focus on refining STEM pedagogy by providing advanced training in project-based learning (PBL) and increasing access to STEM programming for elementary students by establishing an after-school media class to build a pipeline for the Digital Design program of study at the secondary level,” said Senator Koch.
Apryl Kidd, COSMOS Director of Initiatives at Shoals, Mitchell, and Orleans Community Schools, and Jessica Jones, Mitchell Community Schools Assistant Superintendent, authored the grant that was awarded to the school, in hopes to prepare students for second-hand learning.
“This grant will go towards helping build a pipeline for learning within our district. There isn’t a prototypical shop in schools anymore as the way the world works is changing around us,” said Apryl Kidd. “This provides students with the opportunity to learn while having the ability to be creative and see their imagination come to life. They have no limitations on what they can accomplish.”
STEM Learning provides the opportunities for students to use hands-on learning to help prepare them for high demanding careers in the field of technology and science within the industry.
As a way of teaching the students how to implement STEM learning in everyday life, 6th Graders at Mitchell Middle School were tasked with building sustainable homes which were presented to Mitchell company Daub Construction to allow the students to work with a local partner who would have the ability to provide honest and immediate feedback, giving an entirely different level of interaction.
“Building on their partnership with Indiana University and leveraging momentum from the work of their district Digital Learning Building Capacity Team and the Literacy/STEM Improvement for Today’s Students (LIFTS), this $49,138 grant will empower Mitchell Schools to continue growing toward alignment between proposed grant activities, current digital fabrication labs at the middle and high school, and K-12 PBL instruction,” Senator Koch said.
Through STEM, Mitchell Community Schools have been able to open the door to the possible, by providing students with the opportunity to use their minds, to create something new.
“We want the whole state of Indiana to thrive together with literacy and STEM learning, by providing the best opportunity for students to succeed in the future. Failure is never a stopping point, we just get to it and make it happen,” said Mitchell Community Schools Superintendent Dr. Brent Comer.
