Last Thursday, May 20, Marietta High School teacher Lindsey Ramon received good news from the Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education: the high school’s STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, & Mathematics) program, with Ramon at the helm, will be receiving a $15,000 Oklahoma Career Technology Lottery Grant.
The funds will be used to purchase iPads, robotics, a 3D printer, and drones that will help develop the fledgling program.
The ODCTE receives about five percent of the Oklahoma Education Lottery Trust Fund. Using a competitive grant process, the funds are disbursed to help programs purchase and upgrade technology equipment which becomes the property of the school.
Believing that the investment in quality STEM education is crucial to developing student achievement and engagement, the district has chosen to emphasize STEM programs. After a middle school program was started a few years ago and shown enormous promise, the high school program is a recent development with Ramon teaching classes in Robotics and Computer Science to high school students.
Additionally, the district recently passed a bond election to build a new high school/junior high and that building will contain STEM labs to further promote the programs.
“During the 2020-21 school year we began offering two sections of computer coding,” said Ramon. “The students have shown great potential, but we were limited by our lack of technology. This grant will allow us to provide better opportunities for our students.”
In addition to the grant awarded for Ramon’s high school STEM classes, Amanda Faulkenberry received a lottery grant for FCCLA classes and Chris Dobbins, middle school STEM teacher, received a STEM grant, his second, for a total of $35,000 awarded to the district.