Duke Energy Awards K-12 Education Grants
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The Duke Energy Foundation is awarding more than $300,000 in grants to two dozen K-12 education programs in communities around Indiana. The foundation says the grants will support a variety of educational programming, including summer reading programs, STEM education, programs that support underrepresented, low-income or diverse populations, as well as efforts to reverse academic declines caused by COVID-19.
“Our educators and students are facing tremendous challenges teaching and learning as we emerge from the pandemic,” said Stan Pinegar, president of Duke Energy Indiana. “It’s more important now than ever before that we support and invest in opportunities for our children in the communities we serve to thrive and reach their full potential.”
The grants will support programs based in Clark, Daviess, Hamilton, Hendricks, Henry, Howard, Huntington, Jefferson, Johnson, Knox, Lawrence, Monroe, Morgan, Ripley, Shelby, Tippecanoe and Vigo counties.
The grant recipients and amounts are listed below:
- Avon Education Foundation (Hendricks County) – $10,000 to purchase smart speakers that teach kids how to code, while also learning about artificial intelligence.
- Brownsburg Education Foundation (Hendricks County) – $10,000 to purchase classroom supplies and materials for students enrolled in Brownsburg High School’s Project Lead the Way classes.
- Camp Navigate (Vigo County) – $5,000 to support Camp Navigate’s Character Store.
- Carmel Education Foundation (Hamilton County) – $10,000 to purchase robotics kits for each of Carmel Clay’s three middle schools. Funds will also support Project Lead the Way curriculum focused on energy collisions and conversion.
- Clark-Pleasant Education Foundation (Johnson County) – $7,600 to purchase equipment for Whiteland Community High School’s engineering classes, including a desktop wind tunnel and 3D printers.
- Foundation of Monroe County Community Schools (Monroe County) – $15,700 to support specialized training for elementary and middle school teachers to address math learning gaps due to disruption caused by COVID-19.
- Girl Scouts of Northern Indiana-Michiana (Huntington County) – $5,000 to support the Girl Scout Leadership Experience, which aims to nurture and champion girls’ ambitions by providing the environment, knowledge and skills they need to fulfill their potential.
- Girls Inc. of Shelbyville & Shelby County (Shelby County) – $10,000 to provide scholarships for girls from underserved communities to attend Girls Inc. of Shelbyville and Shelby County’s summer literacy program.
- Hanover College (Jefferson County) – $15,000 to support the college’s Summer STEM Enrichment Program, which aims to increase the number of underserved high school students who attend college and introduce them to fields and careers in STEM.
- Indiana State University (Statewide) – $40,000 to support ISU’s Power of Reading and Power of Math summits, which provide teachers with the opportunity to hear from speakers who offer new techniques and research to help improve instruction and outcomes for K-12 students.
- Ivy Tech Foundation (Vigo County) – $10,000 to support Cob and Cog, an annual competition held at Ivy Tech Community College’s Terre Haute campus in which area high school students compete in STEM-related challenges.
- Kokomo School Corp. (Howard County) – $20,000 to support the district’s Summer READ UP with STEM! Discovery Program for students entering grades K-3.
- Maker13 (Clark County) – $10,000 to expand the nonprofit’s experiential learning programming in underserved communities and connect area youth with employers in STEM-related industries.
- Maker Youth Foundation (Hamilton County) – $27,230 to support the Maker Youth Foundation’s “Saturn Program: A Renewable Energy Mobile Field Experience and Design Challenge.”
- Milan Community Schools (Ripley County) – $10,270 to enable Milan Community Schools to offer a summer learning camp for at-risk students filled with STEM, literacy, and social and emotional learning.
- Minority Engineering Program of Indianapolis (Marion County) – $10,000 to purchase supplies and materials for minority students pursuing engineering and information technology education.
- Mitchell Community Schools (Lawrence County) – $14,274 to purchase supplies for digital fabrication and STEM programming at Shoals Middle School, Burris Elementary School and Orleans Elementary School.
- Metropolitan School District of Martinsville (Morgan County) – $13,715 for a remedial reading program for students in need of extra support.
- New Castle Community School Corp. (Henry County) – $9,419 to support Wilbur Wright Elementary’s remedial reading program for first and second grade students.
- Purdue University (Tippecanoe County) – $20,000 to support the university’s “Trailblazers” program, which provides specialized mentoring and faculty training for historically underrepresented populations.
- Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (Vigo County) – $12,960 to support a summer professional development opportunity for sixth through 12th grade Indiana STEM teachers.
- TechPoint Foundation for Youth (Hendricks County) – $10,000 to support the State Robotics Initiative, which aims to engage traditionally underrepresented youth in STEM to build the next generation of leaders in the field.
- Vincennes Community School Corp. (Knox County) – $10,000 to enable the district to offer Project Lead the Way programming.
- Washington Carnegie Public Library (Daviess County) – $10,000 to support “STEMspiration: Change the Equation,” an out-of-school STEM program that aims to prepare students to step in and fill future STEM jobs in the community.
Over the past three years, the foundation says it has awarded 76 grants totaling more than $1.1 million to nonprofit organizations.
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