Skip to main content

We’re Celebrating Indorama


This fall we’ve been celebrating the generosity of our community over and over again. Lately we’ve been celebrating because Indorama Ventures has funded exactly $20,000 for materials, tools, and equipment for the Middle School Engineering and Robotics courses.
Donna Cooper, Engineering and Robotics teacher at Cedar Ridge Middle School says, “STEM is the future of our children.” Cooper is privileged to make careers in technology accessible to her students. “Students participating in these courses explore a whole new world of thinking while developing hands-on skills for college and future careers,” Cooper says.
The new courses will be well-equipped with many of the latest developments in robotics education. Indorama has funded robot kits (with expansion kits and parts), tools, iPads, and a digital projector to use throughout the course. In addition, they have made it possible to purchase 3D printers (with supplies) and an interactive document camera to take robotics and engineering to the next level.
As a chemistry-based company with a growing presence in Decatur, Indorama has a vested interest in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) industry development in Decatur, and realizes the importance of exposure to scientific fields in school.
Indorama Site Manager Russ Wilson says, “Indorama and our team in Decatur are pleased to further our partnership with area schools.  This funding for STEM education is another opportunity to support our community and invest in our shared future.”
The local impact of this funding is impressive. Decatur’s three middle schools will all benefit from this funding, reaching over 500 students.
And who knows what those 500 students can do now! Cassandra Thrower teaches Robotics and Engineering at Brookhaven Middle School, and she is excited to see the research and projects her students come up with. “They are so creative,” Thrower says. “I may give them the tools, but they are the masterminds.”
Indorama’s generosity is a reminder that it’s not only about Decatur’s schools; it’s about Decatur’s community. Because Indorama is investing in the lives of children, one day these students will have a chance to give back to their community the skills they gained from specialized courses like this.
And that’s worth celebrating.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Funding from 3M Keeps the Wheels Turning for Career Tech STEM Initiatives

3M has awarded a grant to Decatur City Schools Foundation that will provide resources for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) education f ocused on career-­ and college-­readiness for more than 500, 6th­– 12th-grade students. The Foundation is committed to working with Decatur City Schools to ensure that students graduate ready to enter the workforce or continue their education. In August, Decatur City Schools combined the Career Technical Education (CTE) efforts of Austin and Decatur High Schools at one center on a portion of the campus previously occupied by Austin High. The center is known as The Career Academies of Decatur. The center provides students the opportunity to explore the type of career or secondary education that they may want to pursue through the use of CTE pathways. STEM career pathways, such as Engineering and Machine Tool Technology, are popular with area students. Introducing students to a variety of career pathways beginning ...
13 comments
Read more

Representative Collins Provides Community Grant Education Funding for ACT Prep

This Fall, Decatur’s high schools started their second year using John Baylor Test Prep to help students get ready to take the ACT. For the past three years, every 11 th -grade student in the state of Alabama has taken the ACT as a way to measure the effectiveness of education among the state’s school districts. While the test for standards is changing this year, the ACT remains an important exam for many students in our district. Often a student’s ACT score determines whether or not the student is eligible to attend the university of their choice. After acceptance, their score will help the scholarship office decide whether or not to grant the student scholarship money to attend. With the high cost of attendance for both two- and four-year institutions, scholarship money can be the deciding factor in whether a student will seek post-secondary education. John Baylor Test Prep provides students with online access to test-prep sessions for the ACT, Pre-SAT, and SAT—all of whi...
4 comments
Read more

The Cure to "Worksheetitis" Teaches Kids Computer Science

Are your students suffering from Worksheetitis? Tired of learning their lessons through written work alone? Luckily, our elementary teachers learned the cure, and thanks to some help from Representative Terri Collins, they’ll be getting the tools to cure it in their classrooms soon. The Technology Department of Decatur City Schools hosted Professional Development for all DCS elementary teachers last month. The gym at Oak Park Elementary School became an escape room, where all of the teachers worked through stations to collect items they would need to escape. To complete each station, though, they had to learn some new things. At each one, they found a new tool or game related to coding, computer science, and technology. From simple tools like Coding Hopscotch that teaches sequencing, to Augmented Reality Cubes that let the user hold our Solar System in the palm of their hand to discover new facts about the planets, our teachers were able to see a wide variety of new wa...
4 comments
Read more