CenterPoint Energy Foundation Fuels STEM in Dayton Schools
In Dayton, the field of STEM has been important since the Wright Brothers invented the first airplane, and it will undoubtedly continue to be so for generations to come. This national STEM Day, on November 8, Crayons to Classrooms would like to recognize the invaluable support Crayons to Classrooms (C2C) receives from the CenterPoint Energy Foundation for more equitable access to STEM learning in under-resourced schools in the Miami Valley. Through a generous grant of $25,000, C2C is able to sustain its vital STEM program throughout the 2024-2025 school year.
STEM is important for the students of today to grasp the opportunities of tomorrow, which is why teachers’ requests for STEM supplies have increased every year since C2C started offering these items in 2014. To provide better STEM learning opportunities to students at Miami Valley PreK-12 schools, C2C secures and distributes safety goggles, compasses, protractors, calculators, index cards, and rulers, just to name a few popular items.
In addition to basic STEM supplies, C2C volunteers spend thousands of hours each year creating handmade Classroom Solutions supplies targeted to STEM needs. These include butterfly and frog life cycle kits, number line sliders, and various paper shapes, like astronauts, lab equipment, and more.
“C2C’s STEM supplies help me give the students more engaging lessons and allow them to develop skills that cannot come from paper & pencil or from a computer,” shares science teacher from Twin Valley South High School. “Students need to have time to explore and try things out for themselves. They need activities that will get them interested and taste success in STEM so that then they can develop a desire for a STEM career. C2C’s supplies give me the ability to plan for such activities.”
In the 2023-2024 school year, 93% of the teachers who visited C2C added STEM supplies to their shopping carts. This tells us that these supplies are important not only for teachers of dedicated STEM courses, but teachers of other subjects as well. It’s exciting that so many teachers are finding ways to incorporate STEM into their teaching, taking a multidisciplinary approach to help students build skills in a growing field. Thanks to the CenterPoint Energy Foundation’s focus on STEM needs in education, students have a better chance at success in school and beyond.
The CenterPoint Energy Foundation strives to become a community catalyst in the communities where we live and work, leveraging everyday opportunities to achieve extraordinary outcomes.
