Private Partnership Invests $1.8M in 13 STEM Labs in Michigan

(TNS) — Birmingham Public Schools fifth grader Jenna Schwartz took the last piece of cardboard she needed and slid it across the cutting machine in front of her. She chiseled it just right, making the last triangle she needed for her project.

Jenna's class had just been covering Native American culture. Now she was in her school's brand new "eSTEM lab" making a cardboard tipi.

The new lab, filled with $70,000 worth of equipment like 3D printers, laser cutters and robotics systems, is courtesy of a partnership between the Public Education Foundation and Volkswagen Group of America. The partnership is investing $1.8 million in 13 innovation labs in two suburban Detroit school districts, Birmingham and Southfield Public Schools. Birmingham schools will have nine labs, and Southfield will have four. The "e" of "eSTEM" designates a specific focus on projects aimed at environmental sustainability.

The two districts and representatives from the partnership celebrated the opening of the lab on Tuesday at West Maple Elementary in Bloomfield Township.

Jenna said she was happily surprised the first time she went into the lab.

"I didn't think it would be all the machines," she said.

Principal Jason Pesamoska said the room used to be a computer lab, but technological investments into laptops made the computer lab a relic of the past. He had a vision for a new kind of lab, full of the equipment it now holds, but when he priced out doing it himself, it came in at about $400,000.

"I can't even fundraise for that," he said.

The Public Education Foundation, based in Chattanooga, Tenn., has launched several such labs in Tennessee, according to Michael Stone, vice president of innovative learning, who noted the foundation is now looking to branch out. They partnered with Volkswagen and found a need they could help fill in Metro Detroit, he said.

"The excitement was about putting students in a situation where they can engage with these tools to develop the kinds of, we call them essential skills, or transferable skills, that are widely useful," Stone said in remarks during the event. "Some of the students in this room may grow up to be engineers who develop the next version of 3D printing, some of them may grow up to develop the new version of robotics that replaces laser cutting altogether."
Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II was also present for the grand opening and spoke about the need not just for more engineers — like himself — in Michigan, but also for more people who understand what engineers do.

"Therefore, you can help them make sure they're solving the right problems," Gilchrist said. "And we need this kind of thinking applied to the most important problems of the day, not just today, but tomorrow."

Even as a college engineering student, Gilchrist said, he had limited access to the kinds of technology the kids in these 13 schools would now have at their fingertips.

"Being able to be exposed to all these kinds of tools and resources and apparatus and infrastructure, these young people are going to create extraordinary things, and it's not going to take them a long time to do it," he said. "These are not inventions that are going to come when they become adults. There are going to be kids who are going to invent community-changing things before they leave this program. And that is inspiring."

Mario Duarte, the senior director of learning, training and development for Volkswagen Group of America, said the company believes innovation "starts with ideas."

"That's why we sponsor programs like this one, programs that provide young learners, tools and experiences so that they can turn their curiosity into capability, either through designing a prototype, creating a job to try to fix real-world problems, or programming a robot," he said. "It doesn't matter, but that is how they can start having ideas."

The superintendents of both Birmingham and Southfield thanked the group for its investment.

Together we are helping our students build the skills, confidence and creativity that they need to succeed in the world," Birmingham Superintendent Embekka Roberson said.

Jennifer Green, Southfield's superintendent, said the lab will not only introduce students to new technologies but will also connect with their classroom learning.

"When students are engaged in hands-on learning, their minds work to solve real-world problems, learning is more fun and more impactful," she said.

Just that morning, she said, a first grader told her they wanted to be a graphic designer, based on what they had already learned in the lab.

"These cutting-edge labs will create exciting learning opportunities for our very youngest learners that help prepare them for in-demand careers," she said. "We believe in exposure, exploration and preparation for the next generation."

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