A $300,000 grant from OrthoWorx will help Warsaw Community Schools Corp. extend science, technology, engineering and math-focused education throughout the district's elementary schools beginning in 2014.
The grant was announced Monday by OrthoWorx, a nonprofit organization formed in 2009 to advance Warsaw's orthopedics cluster. Warsaw Community Schools also will commit $182,000 in funding to its Moving STEM Forward plan.
OrthoWorx has helped fund Warsaw Community School's Washington STEM Academy. The former Washington Elementary School began teaching STEM-related concepts to K-6 students last fall. OrthoWorx pledged another $112,000 to support orthopedics and life-sciences education at Washington STEM Academy this school year.
In an announcement, OrthoWorx and the school district said the Moving STEM Forward plan includes professional development training for teachers and the creation of a STEM mobile learning laboratory. The district will begin implementing the Moving STEM Forward plan next year.
“As a school corporation, we recognize the importance of providing students with an exceptional foundation in STEM, as part of our mission to help students continuously acquire skills and knowledge to enable them to fulfill their dreams,” Craig Hintz, superintendent of the Warsaw Community Schools, said in the announcement.
“We appreciate the support of OrthoWorx in continuing the effort we began with the Washington Elementary STEM Academy. We share the goal of making STEM available in all grades, with the ultimate goal of creation of a high school STEM academy.
"With OrthoWorx support, our leaders will be participating in the Smithsonian Science Education Center’s strategic planning process, allowing us to leverage the thinking of the world’s best thinking in STEM, inquiry-based learning and project-based learning approaches.”