Three Reynoldsburg City Schools Elementary Schools were awarded grants to expand STEM learning projects through the Ohio STEM Learning Network (OSLN) Classroom Grant Program, funded by Battelle. The grants will create sustainable, STEM Learning Projects to benefit Reynoldsburg City Schools Students and align with the District’s Portrait of a Graduate Competencies.

The schools awarded grants were:

The Herbert Mills STEAM Elementary School Global Outdoor Learning Lab is a celebration of the school’s journey to becoming a globally focused STEAM school. With the Global Outdoor Learning Lab, the school recognizes that the world’s biggest classroom is not inside a school building, but outdoors. The Global Outdoor Learning Lab will provide purposeful exploration of the natural world and exposure to careers in STEM/STEAM. The grant will be used to provide tools and resources to support STEM/STEAM and problem-based learning, so students have a safe outdoor place to collaborate, communicate, and problem solve with each other. Students will have an outdoor learning space to imagine, plan, and design solutions to some of the authentic challenges facing the world while exploring STEM/STEAM careers and learning from expert partners. “I am continually proud of our caring, innovative Herbert Mills STEAM Tigers and very excited about these new experiences we will be able to provide,” said Herbert Mills STEAM Principal, Allison McMannis.

The OSLN Grant will afford Summit Road STEM Elementary School students the opportunity to access unique outdoor learning spaces. Students will participate in Citizen Science projects throughout the year and will utilize the new Summit Nature Observation Station on a daily basis.  “The Summit Nature Observation Station will be a multi-purpose nature center designed to enhance the educational use of the on-site Summit Road Wetlands Preserve through the use of a weather station, live feed webcams and nature observation tools,” said Summit Road STEM Elementary School Principal, Latasha Turner.  

Taylor Road Elementary School plans to use the grant to purchase mobile Makerspace carts for each grade level hallway. The carts will act as moveable tinker spaces for students to exercise creativity, collaboration and design challenges. “The criteria for the grant was about expanding STEM opportunities at your school which is what this will do,” said Taylor Road Elementary School Principal, Jamie Johnson. “Our Parent Teacher Organization generously funded a school maker space; which students go to for a class but Makers on the Move will allow teachers access to carts in their rooms and also allow students to access the STEM challenges during the times we are unable to go outside.”

“We are fortunate to have partners like OSLN who provide grant funding in support of deeper learning across the District,” said RCS Chief Academic Officer, Dr. Jocelyn Cosgrave. “I am very proud of our schools who applied for this opportunity in support of our strategic plan efforts.”

In total, 151 classrooms across 55 Ohio counties join Herbert Mills STEAM Elementary School, Summit Road STEM Elementary School and Taylor Road Elementary School in winning the award.

“The schools and educators awarded today will create powerful new experiences to amaze and inspire students,” said Kelly Gaier Evans, Director of the Ohio STEM Learning Network. “We invest in these programs to foster the next generation of Ohio innovators.”

The grant program fosters the growth of OSLN as a public-private partnership between the non-profit research institute and the State of Ohio. Providing more access for all students to experience quality science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education is Battelle’s top philanthropic priority.

“Battelle is proud to expand its impact in STEM education to support more educators across Ohio,” said Wes Hall, Vice President of Philanthropy & Education. “This program creates connections to the statewide network and STEM opportunities for thousands of new students.”

Awarded classrooms will receive grants of up to $5,000. In total, $687,500 will be awarded. Projects align to one of four focus areas:

1.            Community Problem Solving

2.            STEM Career Exploration

3.            Building STEM Mindsets

4.            Design Thinking and Infrastructure

Educators interested in future awards for the program or other supports for STEM education from the Ohio STEM Learning Network can sign up here. A complete list of awarded schools is included below or at this link