Roye-Williams Included in $1.2 Million Military Grant

One Havre de Grace school and three others in the county will benefit from a $1.2 million Department of Defense grant they qualified for because of their Aberdeen Proving Ground connection, Harford County Public Schools reported Tuesday.

Roye-Williams Elementary School, Aberdeen Middle School, Aberdeen High School and Church Creek Elementary School will use the funds toward science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) intiativies.

Those four schools combined include more than 900 students whose parents are employees of Aberdeen Proving Ground, according to a statement from Harford County, and at each of them, at least 15 percent of the students are connected to the military.

With the grant, the schools will provide after-school and summer programs focusing on STEM and professional development for teachers in science and technology, according to a statement from Harford County Public Schools.

The programs will be funded for three years, according to Jillian Lader, spokeswoman for Harford county Public Schools. Lader said that after-school programs are in works and will start after winter break, while the summer program will begin in summer 2015.

In addition to after-school programs, Aberdeen High School will receive new Texas Instruments technology for its AP biology, chemistry and physics classrooms; and Aberdeen High School will offer a foreign language program in Arabic starting with the 2015–2016 school year, according to Jillian Lader, spokeswoman for Harford county Public Schools.

“It is anticipated that students will participate in online Arabic learning through an after-school club experience ... [and] participate in field trips and meet with professionals in the field,” Lader said.

Harford County is one of 25 school districts receiving funds through the Department of Defense’s grant program, called the “Eagles Soar Initiative,” according to a statement from the school system. Programs that received grants this year were focused on infusing STEM principles throughout the curriculum; establishing or expanding foreign language learning programs; and initiatives incorporating family engagement, according to Kathleen Facon, chief of the Department of Defense Education Activity’s Educational Partnership Program.

The grant will “have the power to transform learning experiences for military children,” Facon said, “and we are looking forward to working with the Harford County achool district to leverage success and learn from their expertise.”

Photo Credit: Harford County Public Schools. Roye-Williams Elementary in Havre de Grace is one of four Harford County schools receiving grants from the Department of Defense.