PPL Foundation Awards $5,000 Grant in Support of the Bucks IU Mobile FAB LAB

The Bucks County Intermediate Unit (Bucks IU) Education Foundation is pleased to announce that they have been named the recip­i­ent of a $5,000 grant from the PPL (Pennsylvania Power and Light) Foundation. The PPL Foundation awards annu­al grants through a com­pet­i­tive appli­ca­tion and review process in sup­port of orga­ni­za­tions work­ing to cre­ate vibrant, sus­tain­able com­mu­ni­ties by pro­mot­ing diver­si­ty, equi­ty, and inclu­sion. The Bucks IU Education Foundation sub­mit­ted their appli­ca­tion in sup­port of the con­tin­ued efforts of the Bucks IU’s Mobile FAB LAB; one of only 50 in the United States designed to inspire and encour­age stu­dents to pur­sue careers in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Math) fields. The pro­gram vis­its schools county-wide for one­week res­i­den­cies through­out the school year and pro­vides stu­dents at region­al home­less shel­ters with a vari­ety of spe­cial­ty pro­grams and edu­ca­tion­al opportunities.

JoAnn Perotti, Executive Director of the Bucks IU Education Foundation, stat­ed, “It is with great pride that we applied for this grant in sup­port the
amaz­ing work of the Bucks IU Mobile FAB LAB. In the first year of ser­vice, the FAB LAB’s impact has been out­stand­ing and the demand for the pro­grams and ser­vices it pro­vides con­tin­ues to grow.”

During the spring 2020 school clo­sures, the FAB LAB con­tin­ued to offer edu­ca­tion­al ser­vices to stu­dents with their inno­v­a­tive STEAM Energizer pro­gram. Daily activ­i­ties were 2 post­ed online pro­vid­ing stu­dents a fun and excit­ing way to learn! Both no-tech and low-tech options were avail­able for each activ­i­ty mak­ing it easy for every­one and any­one to par­tic­i­pate.
All of the STEAM Energizers are still avail­able online at www.BucksIU.org/STEAM_Energizers.

For the sum­mer, the FAB LAB is offer­ing two weeks of Online Summer Camps to stu­dents in grades 1–8. The pro­gram is also being pro­vid­ed to stu­dents at sev­er­al region­al home­less shel­ters. Each week of camp will include a set of three core activ­i­ties; one engi­neer­ing, one sci­ence, and one cod­ing based. Additionally, campers will receive a set of three option­al activ­i­ties. All campers receive a ‘Camp Box’ which will include every­thing need­ed to par­tic­i­pate, includ­ing their very own Ozobot robot (a $100 val­ue).
The pro­gram allows stu­dents to exper­i­ment and expe­ri­ence STEAM learn­ing at their own speed and learn­ing level.

The Bucks IU Mobile FAB LAB is grate­ful to the PPL Foundation for the fund­ing and looks for­ward to apply­ing it to future pro­grams that con­tin­ue to sup­port stu­dent growth and learn­ing to their full poten­tial. Questions regard­ing the Bucks IU STEAM pro­grams or Mobile FAB LABcan con­tact Dr. Lindsey Sides, Bucks IU Supervisor of STEAM Education, at STEAM@BucksIU.org or call 215–348-2940 Ext. 1460