Fleetwood Area School District has received a $10,000 grant from America’s Farmers Grow Rural Education, sponsored by the Monsanto Fund. The district will use the money to purchase computers, which will be installed in small group learning stations for each of the 10th grade biology classrooms. Students will use the computers to deepen their understanding of the biology concepts included in the Pennsylvania Core Biology Standards.
Students will be able to create lab reports, compare data across test groups, evaluate scenarios and critique scientific articles. Using the laptop computers will also provide students with additional reading materials through CK-12 Textbooks, an online textbook series on STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics).
“This grant is helping us implement more technology in classrooms,” said District Administrator Paul Eaken. “Exposure to technology within our science curriculum will help better prepare students for college and their careers.”
Farmers who nominated the school district and representatives from the school and the Monsanto Fund attended a check presentation to celebrate the grant during the school’s homecoming assembly on Oct. 2.
This year, the school district also received an educational starter kit from Monsanto Company to help establish a pollinator garden, which will give students first-hand knowledge of the critical role habitat plays in providing bees and butterflies with food, shelter and places to lay eggs.
Since 2011, Grow Rural Education has awarded more than $9 million to help keep rural public school districts growing. The program works with farmers to nominate public school districts to compete for math and science grants of $10,000 or $25,000. Grant applications are reviewed and finalists selected by a panel of teachers. Winning applications are chosen by an advisory council comprised of farmers from across the U.S.
Visit www.GrowRuralEducation.com to see the full list of winners for this year. A sister program, America’s Farmers Grow Communities, is currently enrolling farmers for 2016. To sign up, visit www.GrowCommunities.com before Nov. 30.
These programs are part of the America’s Farmers initiative. The America’s Farmers campaign and programs have advocated on behalf of farmers and their efforts to meet society’s needs through agriculture. Today, consumers are more interested than ever in agriculture and how food is grown. Farmers and others in the industry are joining in on the conversation to help raise awareness about agriculture and share their stories with their communities. Learn more at cfiengage.org.
