Eight Beaufort Co. schools will get new STEM summer camps, technology. Is yours on the list?
Eight Beaufort County schools are going to expand their technology and STEM programs with a $750,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Defense Education Activity, Beaufort County School District has announced.
Under the five-year grant, schools will purchase 3D printers, robotics and graphing calculators; they’ll also offer family nights and summer camps revolving around STEM (science, technology, engineering and math).
The grant money will be targeted at third- through eighth-grade students at Coosa, Broad River, Lady’s Island, Pritchardville, Port Royal and Beaufort elementary schools, along with Lady’s Island and Beaufort middle schools.
Beaufort County School District was named a Military Purple Star District in May and is one of nine school districts in South Carolina to earn that distinction.
The Purple Star program is an initiative from the Military Child Education Coalition aimed at easing students’ school transfers during their parents’ active-duty military service.
“We always strive to serve our military students who often have to attend multiple schools during their educational career due to their family’s many required moves,” Superintendent Frank Rodriguez said in a press release.
“As a result, sometimes our military students miss learning opportunities offered to their non-military peers and this DoDEA grant affords us the opportunity to further support their educational needs.”
This is the second major education grant from the Department of Defense to land in Beaufort County this year.
In April, the South Coast Cyber Center initiative — a partnership among local colleges, the City of Beaufort and economic development groups — received a $1.3 million grant to develop a cybersecurity and cyber defense education, research, innovation and business training center in the area.
This fall, the University of South Carolina at Beaufort began offering a cybersecurity concentration as part of USCB’s Bachelor of Science program in information science and technology; the university intends to eventually offer a four-year degree in cybersecurity, according to USCB provost and executive chancellor for academic affairs Eric Skipper.
This story was originally published October 26, 2021 at 2:09 PM.