Stanton receives STEM BEST funds

As part of the Iowa Governor’s STEM Advisory Council initiative to bring teachers and industry professionals together to help prepare students for STEM careers, Stanton Community School District was selected to be a 2019 STEM BEST (Businesses Engaging Students and Teachers) Program Partner. Thirteen new or expanded partnerships were selected to receive up to $25,000 each.

The STEM BEST Program supports school-business partnerships that allow teachers and industry professionals to work side-by-side on curriculum and projects that give students actual workplace experience and an understanding of the opportunities and required skills for careers in STEM fields. STEM BEST has also laid the groundwork for other successful statewide initiatives, such as Future Ready Iowa’s Work-Based Learning Clearinghouse.

Jeff Grebin, Stanton technology coach and business teacher, is the project lead for the STEM BEST program. Grebin said intended participants are students in fourth through 12th grade.

Major community partners for the program are The Red Oak Express, Farmers Mutual Telephone Company, Montgomery County Memorial Hospital, Red Oak Greenhouse, KCSI, Stanton Friends, Stanton Community Development and Stanton Industrial Foundation.

Broad goals Grebin has for the project include preparing students for work-based learning experiences, developing students’ problem-solving skills and the ability to work with others to see projects though to completion, expanding the district’s STEM education programs, students learning communication skills and life skills, and students working with local business professionals and utilizing state-of-the-art equipment and software.

Grebin said working with Red Oak Greenhouse, they’d like to have a greenhouse on school property. He added, Mark Johnson from Red Oak Greenhouse has agreed to provide seed and plant donations to get the greenhouse project started.

General Manager of the Red Oak Express, Tess Nelson, has agreed to work with students on the whole production of a newspaper, as well as topics like fake news versus real news, research, attribution, page design and finally, the production and publication of a Stanton school page in the Express.

Kevin Cabbage with Farmer’s Mutual Telephone plans to partner with the district to re-establish its online video content presence.

To be considered for a STEM BEST Program award, applicants were required to submit a comprehensive proposal that incorporates rigorous and relevant STEM curriculum, valuable partnerships with community businesses or organizations, real-world learning opportunities and expertise at the post-secondary education and training level.

These awardees will serve as a model to share unique perspective, strengths, demographics and program focus with other schools throughout Iowa.

Participating employer partners contribute to a dollar-for-dollar match with some going above and beyond the cost-share requirement. The awards can be used for the curriculum development and coordination, educator training and development in workplace-classroom integration and preparing the work-based learning environment.

The 2019 STEM BEST Program awardees are:

•BCLUW Community School District in the North Central STEM Region

•Bondurant-Farrar Community School District in the South Central STEM Region

•Cedar Rapids Community School District in the Southeast STEM Region

•Clarinda Community School District in the Southwest STEM Region

• Clear Lake Community School District in the North Central STEM Region

• Griswold Community School District in the Southwest STEM Region

• Jesup Community School District in the Northeast STEM Region

• MMCRU Community School District in the Northwest STEM Region

• New Hampton Community School District in the Northeast STEM Region

• Saint Albert Catholic Schools in the Southwest STEM Region

• Stanton Community School District in the Southwest STEM Region

• Waterloo Community School District in the Northeast STEM Region

• West Des Moines Community School District in the South Central STEM Region

A total of 63 STEM BEST partnerships have been established since the program launched in 2014. For more information about the STEM BEST Program, visit www.IowaSTEM.gov/STEMBEST.

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