OLPH School Awarded $5,000 Robotics Grant

January 5, 2018, Ellicott City, Maryland – Our Lady of Perpetual Help School earned a nearly $5,000 grant from the Central Maryland Chapter of the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association (AFCEA) as part of the association’s STEM Kickstarter initiative. The school will use the funds to expand their robotics program. Joseph Karolchik, the AFCEA STEM Kickstarter Lead presented the check to Victor Pellechia, OLPH School principal, accompanied by student council officers.

The grant will allow OLPH to grow its after-school Robotics Club and form grade-level teams to compete in local robotics competitions with other schools through programs such as the First Lego League, VEX IQ, and the Catholic Robotics League of Baltimore. OLPH School parent, Jerri Stewart, who initiated the grant, will be highly involved in the new programs, stating, “I am very excited for our students and look forward to volunteering in many robotics competitions.” Their current after-school club serves grades 6-8; with the new kits and equipment, students from kindergarten through eighth grade will be able to participate in this STEM opportunity. Kindergarten through third grade will use WeDO 2.0 to learn basic programming skills, simple engineering concepts, and the names of robot components. Students in grades four to eight will work with Lego Ev3 Mindstorms and the VEX IQ robotic system to learn how to build and program robots and work in small groups to complete projects using tilt and motion sensors.

This expansion is part of the school’s long-range strategic plan which included building an interactive learning center and computer lab in 2014, equipping classrooms with interactive projectors in 2015, and launching a 1:1 Chromebook program in 2016. In 2018 OLPH will build a makerspace, a type of STEM lab, to house the school’s art room, Robotics Club, Lego Club, Girls’ STEM Club, community maker events, cross-curricular activities, X-STREAM Makers Club, Art Club, Coding Club, and supplemental hands-on lessons for grades K-8. OLPH School principal, Mr. Pellechia, who has been at the helm since 2012, lead the charge with these initiatives, which positioned the school to earn a National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence in 2016. He stated, “It’s imperative to foster 21st century skills in our students and prepare them for the demands of high school and of a digital and global workforce.”

Our Lady of Perpetual Help (OLPH) Catholic School is a 2016 Blue Ribbon School of Excellence. This Archdiocese of Baltimore school in Ellicott City was founded in 1879 and serves 241 students from preschool through grade 8. For more information, please contact Mr. Victor Pellechia at vpellechia@olphschool.org or 410-744-4251. Additional information at www.OLPHschool.org