John Acevedo, Amber Charter Schools

New York, NY

John will purchase a laser cutter, filter, associated technology, supplies, and develop curricula to further create a maker education program and space and associated STEAM skills for middle school students at Amber Charter Schools. The laser cutter will give all students, including neurodiverse learners, the use of more tactile materials to learn and test their engineering/robotics hypotheses.

Jeff Branson, The Possible Zone

Boston, MA

Jeff, in collaboration with subject matter experts from MIT’s Personal Robots Group, will develop and deliver a 16 hour immersive deep dive experience around reinforcement learning, AI, and robotics with under-represented students in STEAM. This will have a direct impact on 20 Boston area high school students and the reach will extend through the organization’s learning network to Boston Public School teachers via Professional Learning opportunities that will be hosted throughout 2024.

Aynul Dean, B M Hanson Elementary School

Harvey, ND

Aynul will engage students in hands-on computer science experiences through Lego robotics competitions. Students will have the opportunity to use programmable circuits, robots, drones and Lego Spike products. A portion of the award will also be used to train educators in teaching CS concepts and guiding maker activities at the elementary school level.

Kate Dillon, Farmington Middle School

Farmington, MO

Kate will create a supportive makerspace initiative called Making Knights for middle school students to join and become collaborative leaders that create and engage in computer science infused maker activities. The students will then teach, model, and share these experiences with intermediate level students, during family nights at the elementary schools, and through partnerships with local businesses to provide STEM activities for the community.

Julie Gauthier, MakerspaceCT

Hartford, CT

Jullie will develop a program called ‘Girls in Gaming,’ focused on inspiring the next generation of female designers, creators and engineers. During the program, participants learn game development fundamentals while working in teams to create a fully functional game. Each student will develop her own video game through a guided program, demonstrating the education-to-career transition. The entry level curriculum is flexible to accommodate the targeted age group and beginner coding level.

Pam Lilley, William Amos Hough High School

Cornelius, NC

Pam will acquire technology that will help the school scale up the makerspace launched last year, which currently includes a Cricut, MakeyMakeys, a Hummingbird kit, and other elements. The next phase of the makerspace was always intended to emphasize higher-end technology to support classes in career technical education, art, computer science, and occupational career studies.

Kirsa Merrell, Spanish Fork Public Library

Spanish Fork, UT

Kirsa and the Spanish Fork Public Library team will create two mobile outreach units (one robotics lab and one maker lab) to take into schools and the community. Funds will be used for supplies, advertising, and stipends for community presenters.

Cindy Miller, Duluth Public Schools

Duluth, MN

Cindy and fellow colleagues will expand the variety of tools and equipment available for maker-centered learning in the district’s K-5 library media centers and 6th and 8th grade tech classes. They will also develop professional development resources to support media specialists and teachers in the district in bringing maker education into their classrooms.

Tiffany Pace, Cross Lanes Elementary

Charleston, WV

Tiffany will engage her students in learning the various aspects of coding including sequences, loops, inputs, outputs, and debugging through the use of Lego Education classroom sets. Students will build off these learning experiences through real-world STEM Maker challenges. The challenges will allow her students to undergo the Engineering Design Process while creating items such as transportation devices for given variables, carnival games to understand energy conversion, and amusement park rides that are modified to meet the needs of others.

Jen Parsons, Ohio Valley Museum of Discovery

Athens, OH

The Ohio Valley Museum of Discovery team will expand its Discovery Lab program for middle and high school students in Appalachian southeast Ohio, particularly those facing structural and systemic challenges. Through engaging STEM, maker, and computer science experiences, Discovery Lab connects students to STEM and computer science careers, encourages innovation and exploration, and breaks down barriers to participation for diverse learners.