Photo Curtesy of Wichita Public Schools Twitter

On February 19th, North science teacher Hannah Kelderman was surprised with a $3,000 Koch classroom grant to create a new Project Lead the Way course called “Engineering Essentials,” which will work in introducing students to careers in STEM.

Kelderman said this new grant will benefit  any students that are interested in helping out in the community and world through creativity and innovation. 

When asked about the reason behind having applied for the grant Kelderman had this to say; “We currently have an engineering class, Introduction to Engineering Design, that is geared more towards students that are very comfortable with math.  We wanted to provide a real hands-on class for students who may or may not feel comfortable with their current math skills.”

When it came down to the actual application process she had to complete a schedule, cost analysis, answer the grant application questions and much more. 

Kelderman plans on using the $3,000 by purchasing equipment that are used in the labs of the Engineering class. Those labs will include designing a natural disaster relief center, packing Operation Christmas child boxes, using hand and power tools, developing products to help workers, partnering with Go Baby Go to adapt motorized toy vehicles for physically handicapped kids, and developing an urban redevelopment plan.