NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (WAVY) — Newport News Public Schools has been awarded $2 million in grant funds by the Department of Defense Education Activity to help increase STEM programming in the school division.
This marks the second Department of Defense grant NNPS has received for its STEM programming, the first coming in 2018.
The DoDEA grant titled, ‘Mission STEM: Pioneering Pathways and Robotics and Space Exploration Initiative,’ will be allocated across 12 of the division’s schools from elementary to high school, according to NNPS STEM Instructional Supervisor Tami Bryon.
“These are schools that have an increased military population, with seven elementary schools, two middle schools and three high schools within the grant,” Byron said. “The first opportunity would be the expansion of our robotics programs.”
Through the five-year grant, Newport News Public Schools is partnering with the Virginia Space Flight Academy to bring modern STEM programming to its students through science and engineering practices.
“The Virginia Space Flight Academy offers various STEM academies in aeronautics, astrophysics, robotics and coding for 300 students a year in upper elementary and middle school,” she says. “Those specific schools will be able to enroll in those academies, all tuition paid and all of the kits available to them.”
Among the many educational offerings coming to the classrooms are afterschool robotics programs, space camps and the opportunity to work alongside STEM professionals. The hands-on experience will aid in helping the students narrow down future career paths.
“This grant allows us to extend even further and provide extended opportunities for our students to help us meet our mission to graduate college, career and citizen ready,” Byron said.
Newport News Public Schools is currently in the planning phase and will begin using the grant funds summer of 2025.