Partnering with Spartanburg County School District 7’s Mary H. Wright Elementary (MHW), DLI’s STEM Stars will support the integration of STEM curriculum into MHW’s 4th and 5th grade classrooms by providing curriculum. The curriculum will consist of the Society of Automotive Engineers’ A World in Motion (AWIM) and the WeDo Lego Education. MHW will upfit an existing classroom so their students can use the new STEM curriculum in a lab-type environment.

This DLI capstone project is intended to generate Early Age Interest in STEM fields, create an environment that fosters team work and embraces the creative ideas of others and enable a smoother transition of STEM students into existing middle school STEM curriculum. In order to successfully implement this project, STEM Stars will raise approximately $15,000-$23,000.

The grand opening of the STEM lab is planned for the week of August 25, 2014, which coincides with the start of the 2014-2015 school year. To celebrate the grand opening, STEM Stars has planned to host a ribbon cutting ceremony where students, school administrators, DLI team members and their organizational leaders, DLI leadership and media will be invited. STEM Stars has also created a guideline so that other schools or DLI teams can implement a similar program, broadening the access to a STEM education.