Orient-Macksburg receives $40K STEM grant

Orient-Macksburg Community Schools recently received a $40,000 STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) grant that starting next school year, will impact how students at the school learn valuable knowledge and skills they can take with them after high school.

The grant comes from the Iowa Governor’s STEM Advisory Council and is called a STEM Best grant. The grant program is designed to grow a series of community collaborations that involve school and business partnerships, the program’s website states.

Connie Terry, a math instructor at O-M, applied for this grant. She and ag instructor Kevin Blair will be the ones teaching courses benefitting from it.

“I learned about a program that pairs high school geometry with construction. I teach high school algebra here, and since I’ve come we’ve been able to teach that in-house,” Terry said. “As I looked across that classroom I saw there are a lot of students who could benefit from that class that has a little more hands-on experience for the kids.”

Blair comes back to Orient-Macksburg, where he graduated from, with his wife, who is an elementary teacher. He is shared with Nodaway Valley. They most recently taught at Griswold. Blair is an experienced ag teacher, which made Terry think that implementing a program like the one she was browsing possible at O-M.

Students in math classes now are able to put their skills to work in a more traditional way in the classroom, however this new program will give them opportunity to put their knowledge to work and see how it can be used in the real world.

Those who enroll in the ag construction class now usually create smaller shop class-type projects such as bird houses or wooden shelving. This grant will allow them to work on a much larger-scale project.

Students in this program will take both classes that will work together for the duration of the project. Blair likened the building students will erect to a small cabin or lodge approximately 12 feet by 20 feet.

There may be an opportunity for students to work with contractors during the project, as that is one key component of the program, that they work with outside professionals to learn the skills. Roberts Construction, Southwestern Community College and the City of Orient have all pledged to share various resources and knowledge with Orient-Macksburg for this project.

“The lodge or cabin I was looking at would have a partial loft in it, too,” Blair said. “There’s a lot of things to think about. It’s gotta fit out of [our shop] height-wise and width-wise. You’ve gotta think about electrical, so they’ll have to contact an electrician, because that has to be up to code.”

The grant covers training for this project, the math curriculum that is needed and all the supplies the school will need for students to be able to carry the project out to completion. Both teachers were scheduled for a training webinar this week and more training will come this summer.

Junior and senior students already have opportunity to take construction classes that offer these types of opportunities at SWCC in Creston, however the class O-M will have will target sophomores, an increased amount of girls and those who are served in special education.

“I’m really proud of the school for being awarded this. This is a big deal to the kids. We told them the amount of the grant and they were impressed too,” Terry said. “It’s an investment in their current education but in their future. The scale is the exciting thing.”

Other recent recipients of STEM Best grants, of varying amounts and in this part of the state, were Creston, Coon Rapids-Bayard, Earlham, East Mills, East Union, Griswold, Harlan and Woodbine.