Toms River East Robotics Team Wins $1,000 Staples Grant

TOMS RIVER, NJ — The Toms River High School East robotics team has received a $1,000 grant from Staples to support its competitive efforts, the Toms River Regional School District announced.

The grant from the Staples Foundation, the private charitable arm of Staples, comes through a program called 2 Million & Change that provides more than $2 million in donations each year, the district said in a news release.

The grants allows Staples associates around the world to direct funding to nonprofit organizations focused on academic education or job skills. The program encourages local community engagement by awarding larger grants to organizations where associates are highly engaged in volunteering or fundraising – up to $25,000 per organization.

“This is exciting news because not only was it initiated by one of our former students, it directly impacts our students, and connects us with a local organization that is doing great work for the community,” Superintendent David Healy said. “Our district is grateful to Staples for this donation and commends Alexa Leone for her initiative with this grant.”

East’s Robotics Club is dubbed the Raiders Shortcircuits. In addition to competing at events throughout the year, the Shortcircuits perform outreach to elementary schools, using their robot to encourage interest in STEM skills and careers. The funds from Staples will enable the club to purchase electronic parts for the 2017-2018 First Tech Challenge (FTC) Robotics Competition.

“We have more than 30 students engaged in designing, building and coding the robot we’ll use for the FTC competition this year,” said club advisor Suzanne Signorelli who, along with colleagues Catherine Applegate and Walt Patelunas, wrote and submitted the application. “With this grant, Staples is helping us provide outstanding opportunities for our remarkable students.”

Technology remains one of five major board-approved goals for the current school year, and this grant award is in line with a wide range of district initiatives that support and encourage technological exploration and advancement for students.

“This is a well-deserved award for a school and robotics club that has made a name for itself over the years in competitions like FTC,” Board President Ben Giovine said. “I’m certain the Raiders Shortcircuits and its team of advisors will work wonders with this funding.”

Among its three Career Academies set to open with the 2017-2018 school year is the STEAM Academy at High School East. Robotics and coding specifically are focal points, and the district continues to seek funding and programs that support curriculum.

The Toms River school district recently was awarded a $10,000 grant from SAP for a coding program targeted at intermediate-level girls, and is in pursuit of several multi-year programs to advance skills in coding, cyber security, and computer programming.

In 2016, Staples awarded more than $2.3 million in grants to 1,000 local organizations in support of education and job skills programs, the news release said.

Toms River High School East students competed with their robot in a recent competition. Photo courtesy of Toms River East