Scotch Plains Schools Get STEM Scholars Grants

SCOTCH PLAINS, NJ — Scotch Plains schools were among 15 districts to be awarded a grant through the new Union County STEM Scholars grant program.

The grant program “Moving Union County Forward” was launched this year by Freeholder Chairman Sergio Granados’ Plant-A-Seed initiative with the goal of enabling local school districts to enhance STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) programs for younger students.

The STEM Scholars program awarded grants in the following areas of concentration:

• Project Based Learning: Creative, STEM-integrated, educational programming.
• Afterschool STEM: Projects and programming that focus on extra-curricular learning, including science fairs, STEM clubs, monthly labs and workshop.
• Out-of-School STEM: Creative STEM experiences out of the classroom, to better prepare students for STEM work in the classroom, and in the workforce.

Scotch Plains' Park Middle School received a total of $800 for their After School STEM and $500 for Project Based Learning. Scotch Plains Terrill Middle School also received $500 for Project Based Learning.

"The new STEM Scholars program helps open up more opportunities for elementary and middle school students to practice foundational STEM skills like teamwork and leadership, and prepare them to take on the challenging curriculum of high school STEM topics," stated Granados.

(Image via Shutterstock)

Have a news tip? Email alexis.tarrazi@patch.com.

Get Patch breaking news alerts sent right to your phone with our new app. Download here.