America’s Farmers Grow Rural Education called on local farmers to help nominate rural schools to receive nearly $2.3 million in grants to enhance their science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) programs.
Local farmers answered the call, and the Grow Rural Education program, sponsored by the Monsanto Fund, a philanthropic arm of Bayer, has recognized Springport Public Schools in Jackson County, MI with a $25,000 grant, the program noted in a press release.
Springport Public Schools will use the Grow Rural Education program funds to enhance the science, technology, engineering, art, and math (STEAM) learning in its agricultural technology courses through the purchase of a CNC Plasma cutting system and a Universal Fabricator machine that will allow students to design, engineer, produce, and market products that are useful throughout the agriculture industry.
“Bayer is proud to support programs like America’s Farmers Grow Rural Education, which has made such a tremendous impact in rural communities across the United States,” Lisa Safarian, of Bayer Crop Science North America said in a press release. “These grants help drive awareness of career opportunities in agriculture and enhance STEM education for the students who are the next generation of our industry.”
To qualify for a Grow Rural Education grant, farmers nominated a public school district to compete for a merit-based grant of either $10,000 or $25,000. Nominated school districts then submitted a grant application that outlined how they would use the funds to enhance their students’ STEM education. A panel of qualified teachers review the applications and narrow it down to the finalists. The program’s Farmer Advisory Council, consisting of approximately 30 farmer leaders from across the country, then select the winning school districts, including Springport Public Schools.
“America’s Farmers Grow Rural Education is a special program because farmers play a key role in nominating local schools and evaluating and selecting the grant winners,” said Al Mitchell, Monsanto Fund president in the press release. “Each year, countless school winners tell us that the Grow Rural Education grants make a positive impact in their classrooms. For some, the results are evident in student test scores, and many educators say their students are more excited about STEM courses.”
