Eleven schools in the tri-state area of Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama are among those receiving grants from the Tennessee Valley Authority to help develop science, technology, engineering and math education projects.
The TVA, in partnership with the company's retiree organization Bicentennial Volunteers Incorporated, announced the recipients of the total $600,000 in grants to educators in public schools, according to a news release.
The competitive STEM classroom grant program is operated in partnership with Battelle Education. TVA received more than 290 grant requests from across the agency's seven-state service territory.
The program gives teachers the opportunity to apply for funding up to $5,000. Preference was given to grant applications that explored TVA's primary areas of focus: environment, energy, economic and career development and community problem solving, according to the release.
In total, 142 grants were awarded.
"This is the second year we offered this program to the entire [Tennessee] Valley and we saw a major increase in grant applications this year," Rachel Crickmar, TVA's community engagement senior program manager, said in the release. "There is a demand in the valley for workforce development through STEM education and I am proud of the way TVA and our retirees are responding to that demand."
The 11 schools in the tri-state area are:
* Brainerd High School, $1,500 for robotics club
* Candy's Creek Cherokee Elementary School in Cleveland, Tennessee, $5,000 for the tactile coding and technology class
* Charleston Elementary STEAM Academy, $5,000 for building engineers and computer coders
* Chattanooga High Center for Creative Arts, $5,000 for a voice-operated prosthetic device collaboration
* Harrison Bay Future Ready Institute in Ooltewah, $2,500 for STEM improvements
* Heritage Middle School in Ringgold, Georgia, $5,000 for STEM improvements
* Park View Elementary, $5,000 for Cleared For Takeoff program
* Section High School in Section, Alabama, $5,000 for Coding, Careers, and Inventors, Oh My! program
* Soddy-Daisy Middle School, $2,500 for Civil War maps
* Stevenson Elementary School in Stevenson, Alabama, $5,000 for a STEM lab
* West Fannin Elementary in Blue Ridge, Georgia, $8,500 (two grants) for chemical/bacterial water testing program and Dash Robots