FALLS CHURCH, Va., Dec. 18, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- From among the nearly 200 public middle schools nationwide that participated, the Northrop Grumman Foundation has announced the five finalists in its Fab School Labs classroom makeover contest. Each of the winning schools will receive a grant of up to $100,000 to help turn their current science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) facilities into a state-of-the-art STEM teaching environment. The five winning schools are:
- Benjamin Syms Middle School, Hampton City Schools, Hampton, Virginia
- Clifton Middle School, Monrovia Unified School District, Monrovia, California
- Aurora Frontier P-8, Adams-Arapahoe 28J: Aurora Public Schools, Aurora, Colorado
- Lucille M. Brown Middle School, Richmond Public Schools, Richmond, Virginia
- Bertha Sadler Means Young Women's Leadership Academy, Austin Independent School District, Austin, Texas
In addition to the top grant winners, the 15 remaining semifinalist schools will each receive a $2,000 grant they can use to stock their labs with supplies and equipment.
"Northrop Grumman congratulates our Fab School Labs finalists, all of our participating schools, and every STEM teacher that works hard every day to engage and inspire their students," said Sandra Evers-Manly, Northrop Grumman vice president, global corporate responsibility and president of the Northrop Grumman Foundation. "After hearing from the nearly 200 schools that entered our contest, it is clear that the need for better teaching tools, modern equipment and up-to-date facilities at the middle school level is great, as these are vital to any classroom activity and to a teacher's ability to keep students engaged and inspired. We look forward to working with our five winning schools to turn their existing facilities into a true fab school lab."
The Fab School Labs contest was designed to drive student interest in STEM by giving public middle school teachers and administrators the chance to create a dream STEM lab and provide students access to the latest learning tools and technologies that stimulate as well as teach. To help meet the technology-driven demands of our world, Northrop Grumman Foundation's Fab School Labs program is helping science classrooms and STEM labs become places of inspiration, imagination and opportunity for tomorrow's innovators and inventors.
Announced earlier this year, the contest invited teachers, principals and school administrators to submit videos, essays and photos to tell their school's story and vision for a state-of-the-art STEM lab. All submissions were reviewed by a team that included contest partner Flinn Scientific, along with a consultant. Winners were selected from a field of top 20 semifinalist schools, who were chosen based on existing classroom/lab resources, level of need, student impact, feasibility of upgrades and plans proposed, and how well each met contest eligibility and entry requirements.
To help determine the five winning schools, the Northrop Grumman Foundation enlisted the public via a five-day online voting campaign hosted on the Fab School Labs Facebook page that garnered more than 45,500 votes. In addition to the public support received by each school, a final review of the 20 semifinalists conducted by the Fab School Labs team and a national science education organization assessed how each school's desired dream STEM lab would allow for new teaching methods and lesson plans, course objective suitability, and overall plan feasibility.
Winning schools will now begin working with Flinn Scientific to design and build a lab with all of the tools, resources and furnishings they have long needed to keep students challenged, engaged and learning at a competitive level.
To learn more about the Fab School Labs contest, visit www.FabSchoolLabs.com.
Northrop Grumman and the Northrop Grumman Foundation
www.northropgrumman.com/foundation, are committed to expanding and enhancing the pipeline of diverse, talented STEM students globally. They provide funding to sustainable STEM programs that span from preschool to high school and through collegiate levels, with a major emphasis on middle school students and teachers. In 2015, Northrop Grumman and the Northrop Grumman Foundation continued education outreach efforts by contributing more than $17 million to diverse STEM-related groups such as the Air Force Association (CyberPatriot), Conservation International (ECO Classroom), the REC Foundation (VEX Robotics), National Science Teachers Association and the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering.