Governor Kay Ivey visits STEM camp at East Elementary
CULLMAN, Ala. – Cullman City Schools (CCS) and Cullman Parks, Recreation & Sports Tourism (CPRST) teamed up to host a STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) camp at East Elementary School (EES) over the past week, and the students had a special visitor on Tuesday. Governor Kay Ivey made her way to EES to visit the camp and hear about some of the latest initiatives going on within the school district.
Ivey was joined by representatives from the Alabama State Department of Education (ALSDE), CCS, CPRST, EES and the Cullman City Council. CCS Director of Academic Affairs Lindsay Brannon was excited to welcome everyone to the camp and gave some background on how and why they put it together. Brannon noted the camp is also made possible through an Alabama Summer and Afterschool Program (ASAP) grant funded by the ALSDE, which supports the implementation and enhancement of before- and after-school and summer learning programs that provide student learning and academic enrichment activities.
“We’re very honored and privileged to be able to showcase our STEM camp at East Elementary. This is all done through a partnership with Jeff Norris and his team with the (Alabama) State Department of Education,” Brannon said. “This is our second year to have the STEM camp, and we have about 175 students. We have a growing waiting list and this all came about because the board of education had a mission and a vision to expand STEM education in Cullman City Schools and give students the opportunity to build those STEM skills because those can be translated to any career that they have.”
Norris, an education specialist with the ALSDE, shared more on the plan to expand out-of-school-time programming and provide more learning opportunities throughout the year.
“This is actually the one-year anniversary of the Office of Extended Learning. Last summer we began a new project at the state department looking at out-of-school-time programming in Alabama and we were really excited about that opportunity,” Norris said. “I think a lot of the time in our day-to-day lives throughout the school year we get caught up in the procedure and all the tasks we have to do, and we don’t always carve out that time to dream about the future and think about what things could be. So, what I love about summer learning in particular is that the opportunity is ripe for creativity, excitement and engagement. What you see the kids doing in the classrooms now is representative of all of those things.”
CCS Superintendent Kyle Kallhoff said STEM education was one of the board’s priorities when he arrived and he’s excited to see those plans bear fruit.
“I’ve been here for five years now and one of the first things the board asked of me was to expand what we’re doing in STEM education and expand our partnership with the City. So, we do have Nathan Anderson here who is over park and rec, and what you see today is a partnership with City government and park and rec and we really appreciate that,” Kallhoff said. “We developed a framework for STEM education, and it starts by investing in educators, so we’ve invested in classroom teachers at every school to start as young as kindergarten with exploratory and experimenting, which is sort of what you saw today. Then at the middle school you’re actually taking classes and learning those prerequisite skills that you’ll use in our high school programs. We’ve revamped our career tech programs to have a STEM focus, but instead of just starting that in high school, our vision is to have 6-year-olds interested in STEM education.”
Ivey said she was happy to visit the camp during National Summer Learning Week and believes it’s important to support programs like these.
“It’s great to be here in Cullman at East Elementary School, especially to see these young folks being introduced to STEM education. Y’all are building true leaders of the future and it’s important that we all appreciate and support this program,” Ivey said. “This is National Learning Week across the nation so I’m glad to be here. Learning doesn’t stop in the summer. We want our students to stay abreast of everything and have experiences in the summer that they don’t get during the regular school year. So, it’s important to give these students that opportunity.”
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