Daviess County Public Schools received a $25,000 grant Wednesday to further STEM education in its elementary schools.
In a ceremony at Meadow Lands Elementary School on Wednesday, Kirby Green representing Bayer, presented a check to students and DCPS officials. The grant is issued through Bayer’s America’s Farmers Grow Rural Education program.
The process begins with a farmer nomination. Daviess County farmer Kenneth Ebelhar nominated DCPS for the grant and was present Wednesday to not only see his nomination funded, but also some of the science education made possible with the money.
Daviess County was one of four school systems in Kentucky to receive a grant from Bayer and only one of two schools in Kentucky to receive the large grant amount of $25,000.
DCPS Federal Programs Coordinator Shelly Hammons was responsible for writing the grant. DCPS has applied several times and was awarded a smaller amount many years ago, but Hammons said this is the first time the district has received the larger funding from Bayer.
Although the ceremony was held at Meadow Lands, all elementary school students in third through fifth grades will benefit from the funding. Hammons said the district recently adopted a new curriculum for science and the America’s Farmers grant will support that change.
“With this grant, we were able to supply those materials, the lab equipment, activities and experiments that they could not do, we have now provided that,” Hammons said. “Our kids will be getting exactly what they need to do science to fidelity.”
Green was pleased to hear that the grant would be used to fund every third through fifth grade student’s science experiential learning for the year.
“That’s a huge deal,” she said. “That barrier is instantly removed.”
