Pictured left to right are CLC Associate Director Julia Ossler, Flight Director Libby Torbeck, HCC Continuing Education Dean Amy Humphreys, HCC VP External Relations Kelli Tillery Hill, CLC Stem Education Specialist Joanna Nicolas, GROWMARK Youth and Young Producer Specialist Karen Jones.

GROWMARK partners with Challenger Learning Center to support rural middle school students

 

[March 10, 2021]  GROWMARK is joining with the Challenger Learning Center (CLC) at Heartland Community College to help rural school districts develop science, math, engineering, and technology skills.

The GROWMARK Foundation has donated $10,000 toward CLC programs for middle school students focusing on Science, Engineering, Technology, and Math (STEM) skills.

CLC STEM EDventures were launched in the fall of 2020 as a way to provide an exciting and interactive STEM experience for students unable to make a conventional field trip. The EDventures create hands-on learning experiences inside and outside of the classroom.

To date, the GROWMARK funding has connected over 240 students from Heyworth, Olympia, and Tri-Valley schools with CLC EDventures sessions. Students planned a “vacation to space” by calculating a path to distant planets. They also constructed a one-of-a kind rover and heard from NASA experts about how STEM skills and experiments are used by scientists and engineers.
 

“Funding from community partners such as GROWMARK have been a huge boost for the CLC mission of promoting STEM skills for young people,” said Kelli Hill, Heartland Vice President of External Relations. “This kind of local support is a big investment in our community as we work to be flexible and innovative in offering schools Challenger Learning Center opportunities. The creation of more CLC virtual options and a broader STEM focus, to include life sciences, will benefit students now and for years to come.”

With STEM EDventure programs, students engage in fully-prepared, hands-on lessons that integrate essential Common Core standards and Next Generation Science Standards. EDventures are designed for flexibility depending on the instructional situation and can be completed completely remotely, or in a classroom setting.

“One of the principles on which GROWMARK was founded is concern for community. The GROWMARK Foundation focuses its giving in five areas: Education, Youth, Agriculture Industry, Cooperatives, and Charity,” said GROWMARK Youth and Young Producer Specialist Karen Jones. “We’re proud to partner with the Challenger Learning Center in boosting key STEM skills in and out of the classroom.”

The mission of Challenger Learning Center is to engage students and teachers in dynamic, hands-on exploration and discovery opportunities that strengthen knowledge in science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM), inspire students to pursue careers in these fields, and provide an outlet to learn and apply important life skills. For more information about CLC STEM EDventures http://www.heartland.edu/clc/.

[Steve Fast
Director, Public Information
Heartland Community College]