Local school partners with companies for new STEM Center
CALEDONIA, Miss. (WCBI) – An area school is forming a powerful partnership to help jump-start student interest in science and technology.
The Tennessee Valley Authority, Monroe County Electric Power Association, the Cal Ripken, Senior Foundation, and the Lowndes County School District held a ribbon-cutting on Friday, August 8, for the latest Cal Ripken Foundation STEM Center.
The new state-of-the-art classroom and technology lab are at Caledonia Middle School.
The STEM Center gives students and teachers access to modern, state-of-the-art curriculum and tools for science, technology, engineering, and math, including drones, circuit boards, and a 3D printer.
For TVA, it’s an investment in the people in an area where they are also making an investment in power generation.
“One, I hope they have a lot of fun, and it looks like with some of these, it looks like with the drones and circuit boards and the trains, I think they will have a lot of fun, but in the process, I hope through that fun they start to develop what they what they want to do when they become young adults, and maybe help shape where they go to school too,” said Murray Woody, Principal of Caledonia Middle School.
“It just made sense that as we’re making investments from an asset standpoint in the community, it makes sense to also invest in the future generation that would serve not only TVA and the utilities sector and Monroe County EPA, but also in industry and commercial in the area,” said Tennessee Valley Authority’s Customer Relations Manager Josh Wooten.
The Caledonia STEM Center is the fourth one in Mississippi.
