KeyBank Foundation donates $700,000 for Cleveland STEM student success

CLEVELAND - The KeyBank Foundation donated $700,000 to the Cleveland Metropolitan School District during a STEM school partnership announcement Tuesday morning. The announcement took place in the gym of the Hannah Gibbons-Nottingham PREK-8 School in Cleveland.

The joint venture is viewed by CMSD as a vote of confidence not only in Cleveland schools, but for the students who will take part in this new and innovative curriculum that's designed to increase their chances of attending college and leaving with a diploma.

STEM studies emphasize science, technology, engineering and math.  Students not only learn in the classroom but transfer that knowledge to the workplace with the cooperation of local businesses.  By learning this way, students can better understand how what they learn in school directly translates into the workplace.

STEM senior David Boone is the first from his family to go to college.  Although he graduates this year, he already has the equivalent of 2 years worth of college credit from Cleveland State University.  He spoke to NewsChannel 5 about his STEM experience and how it helped him understand the connection between classroom studies and real world problem solving.

Since the STEM curriculum was introduced, student testing scores steadily increased.  This improvement in test scores has encouraged local businesses, such as Keybank, to provide funding for the expansion of the program. 

The STEM program will now be available to students in the six elementary schools designated by the school district. Hannah Gibbons-Nottingham School is one of six designated STEM schools in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District. The other five schools include George Washing Carver, Michael R. White, Mound, Mary B. Martin and Orchard. Each of these schools will receive $100,000 from the Keybank Foundation to implement the STEM program.

$100,000 of the grant will be allocated to the FabLab (fabrication laboratory).  FabLab is a mobile unit that will travel from school to school.  The lab allows students to design structures using computer aided design, or CAD, programs. The information is then transferred to machinery that fabricates those designs into items that can be constructed by the students to complete the production process.  Exercises like these show students how manufacturing ideas become real products

The six Cleveland schools using the FabLab will be the first elementary schools in the nation to get this type of hands on experience.