‘˜Picking up STEAM for students’ needs community support

Pike elementary school teacher Ashley Wright is the school’s new Program Challenge teacher and she is asking for the community’s support to best serve her students. ’For 13 years I have had the honor and pleasure of working at PCES. I hold this county close to my heart because it is where educators, administration and members of the community all know that our kids are our most valuable commodities,’ she said. ‘This year I will teach Program Challenge for third, fourth and fifth grade students. One of the most fascinating parts of my job is seeing how this age group can begin to think and construct their own ideas and opinions. My goal for Program Challenge is to launch our rural students into the 21st century with projects designed for community and global good. This will engage our students in real-world, authentic projects that allow them to use design thinking and problem-solving to begin to create innovative solutions to school, community and even global issues. Their first challenge: The Rural Digital Divide! #bethegood.’To help fund her plans for the students, she created a DonorsChoose.org project titled Picking up STEAM for Good. The goal is to raise funds to purchase iPads to be used by all Challenge students at the school to complete their projects to make Pike a better place to live. The students will also be able to partner with science lab teacher Mandi Wood to create a STEM/STEAM lab. ’Our mission seeks to empower our school and rural community with problem and project-based learning by designing a curriculum that turns empathy into action,’ said Wright. ‘Science lab teacher, Mandi Wood, and I are trying to cobble together a STEM/STEAM lab for our elementary students. Mandi has already secured a 3D printer the students can use to create prototypes in their design and engineering curriculum. If you would like to contribute, this is our first phase. Any amount is appreciated and will help our students.’ The project for fifth grade challenge students is in conjunction with Design for Change around the rural ‘Digital Divide.’ Third grade challenge students will be working on a three-year PBL project to create a WWF (World Wildlife Federation) certified schoolyard wildlife habitat.’Thank you hardly seems an adequate response for all of the time and effort each of you have already devoted to our students here in Pike County,’ said Wright. ‘I truly believe that they can and will be the innovators, leaders and game-changers of tomorrow.’