South Fulton STEM Awarded TVA Grant

Paris, Tenn.– The Tennessee Valley Authority awarded the South Fulton STEM a $5,000.00 grant this month. This grant will fund the acquisition of equipment, supplies, and tools needed to create aeronautical learning and aircraft construction kits that can be provided free of charge to community learners.

This project has been created and designed by a 3rd year junior STEM student, to complete a year-long semi-independent community project. With this grant money the student will be able to create the aeronautical learning supplies and kits needed to complete the project. As part of the project, young community learners will be provided the opportunity to explore the world of aeronautics through both in person educational camps and with at-home learning kits. Four kits will be created which include, 2-liter bottle rockets, self-propelled balloon blimp, foamboard/cardboard glider, and foamboard/cardboard self-propelled airplane. The project plans to serve over 100 students from K-12 ages and some young adults.

The focus of this project is to provide community learners the opportunity to investigate a variety of engineering aspects related to aeronautics. Each learning camp and aircraft kit will provide a chance to discover the principles of flight and the science behind operational scale model aircraft. Every project will include aspects of the “Principles of Engineering Design” in which students can test a variety of aircraft configurations to create the best possible final product. With the seminars and kits being free of charge (some seminars will occur during the school day) these learning chances will be available to a wide variety of young people within our local community and its schools (South Fulton Elementary and South Fulton Middle/High School). South Fulton schools do not provide courses focused on engineering outside of the limited STEM classes, thus this STEM based project can also provide many individuals an introductory experience in engineering careers.

Photo:
Back Row, from left: Martha Swindle TVA, Brian Smith TVA, Andy Zimmerman SFHS Science, Laura Pitts SFMHS Principal.
Front Row: Shelly Bowers WCMES, Daniel Pitts Student, Austin Reason Student.