ATHENS, Ala. — Representatives from Athens State University and Northrop Grumman held a ribbon cutting Thursday to celebrate the grand opening of Athens State's new STEM Learning Lab.
Athens State University was able to open the lab after receiving a major donation from Northrop Grumman. The University will have a brand new learning space that focuses on STEM education and hands-on engaged learning.
"Well, Northrop Grumman's generous donation of $25,000 has gone a long way," said Athens State College of Education Dean Lee Vartanian. "This donation is helping to purchase very interesting stem activities, stem gadgets, and robots," he explained. This donation will also help them purchase other technological gadgets,".. like 3D printers and all kinds of hands-on materials that our teacher candidates, our future teachers can, I want to say play with and learn to engage with."
Dean Vartanian said most importantly the generous donation will help their students become better teachers. "I'm just so honored and touched that a local company would invest in education in this way."
Leaders said part of their STEM strategy includes making sure they are getting the next generation workforce involved in STEM.
"So we thought it was really important to support not only students but also educators. so with this pre-service kind of lab, it will help future teachers have the tools and the resources that they need, as well as the confidence to teach stem subjects in the classroom," said Northrop Grumman Corporate Citizenship Lead and K-12 STEM Education Lead, Erica Hopkins.