Amazon Grant To Bring Hands-On STEAM Learning To Bucks Co. Students

DOYLESTOWN, PA — The Bucks County Intermediate Unit (Bucks IU) Fab Lab on Monday announced it has received a $197,800 grant from Amazon to expand hands-on science, technology, engineering, art, and math (STEAM) programming for Bucks County students.

The award was formally presented to the Bucks IU’s Fab Lab team during a check presentation at the Bucks IU’s Board of School Directors meeting on September 15.

Since opening in December 2021, the Fab Lab has served as Bucks County’s hub for STEAM education, and its Mobile Fab Lab program, now in its sixth year, has carried tools like 3D printers, laser cutters, and robotics equipment directly into local schools.

The grant will fund three initiatives over the coming school year:

• Mobile Fab Lab Residencies: A traveling fabrication lab, equipped with tools like 3D printers, laser cutters, and robotics equipment, will spend one-week residencies at each elementary school in five Bucks County school districts, giving students multi-day, project-based STEAM learning experiences.
• Future Makers Field Trip Initiative: Fifth grade students from participating districts will travel to the Fab Lab’s home site in Ivyland for career awareness field trips designed to introduce design thinking, prototyping, and digital fabrication skills. Last year, funding and transportation constraints meant only one elementary school in the region was able to make the trip; this year, the five districts in the grant will have the chance to send every one of their fifth graders.
• Family STEAM Nights: Evening community events will invite students and their families to engage in hands-on STEAM and career awareness activities, extending the Fab Lab experience beyond the school day.
  

Amazon representatives present a check to the Bucks County Intermediate Unit.

“We’re thrilled about what this grant means for Bucks County students,” said Dr. Lindsey Rutherford, Director of STEAM Education at Bucks IU. “Because of Amazon’s investment, thousands more students across five districts will get to experience hands-on STEAM learning in ways many of them would never have had otherwise.”

"Amazon is proud to support the Bucks IU Fab Lab as it brings hands-on STEAM learning to students across Bucks County," said Mia Gooding Martin, Community Engagement Manager at Amazon. "Giving young people the chance to design, build, and create is how we help open doors to the opportunities of tomorrow — and it's exactly the kind of lasting, local impact we want to be part of in the communities where we live and work."

The Bucks IU Fab Lab has served as a regional hub for STEAM education since its founding, giving teachers and students across Bucks County access to equipment and expertise that many individual schools cannot provide on their own. The grant extends the reach and possibility of that mission.

“Every child deserves the chance to discover what they’re capable of building and creating,” Rutherford added. “There’s nothing like watching a student’s eyes light up the moment they realize they can design and create something real with their own hands. That’s the moment that stays with them, and it’s why the work matters so much to me.”

Programming funded by the grant is expected to launch immediately for the 2026-27 school year, with the Mobile Fab Lab Residencies beginning first.