Local businesses key for STEM grant

 HARLAN — Harlan Community School District received a STEM planning grant for a total of $60,000.
    “We do a lot of things with Iowa Western Community College for juniors and seniors,” said Steve Sauvain, HCSD Director of Education. “We send kids over there in the afternoons for classes such as diesel mechanics.”
    Sauvain said he reached out to 19 local businesses to see what they need and how the students could help.
    With the grant, Connetix educational toys have been ordered to supplement what was already available for fourth-graders and are applying for maker space items that will be added to the new building when construction is complete.
    Sauvain said the area has a lot of agricultural businesses.
    “Sometimes kids think you can just go and be a farmer and it’s not quite that easy anymore,” he said.
The school hopes to hire two STEM teaching positions next year. There’s money built in for nearby conferences and they hope to send them to national conventions to gather ideas.
The school is trying to do more STEM things within school walls for freshmen and sophomores, and hopes to eventually involve the middle school in opportunities including coding and maybe robotics.
The school purchased hydroponic plants for the younger students to grow plants or vegetables to give to the lunch ladies for the salad bar, said Sauvain.
 Sauvain said part of the planning grant is trying to get more females involved in the CTE programs.