Lockheed Martin awards $200,000 grant to Huntsville schools for Project Lead The Way

Lockheed Martin Corporation awarded a $200,000 grant to Huntsville City Schools to expand Project Lead The Way. (CONTRIBUTED)

HUNTSVILLE – Lockheed Martin Corporation has presented a $200,000 grant to Huntsville City Schools for expanding Project Lead The Way.

Lockheed Martin officials announced the grant during the Space & Missile Defense Symposium at the Von Braun Center on Aug. 12.

Recognized nationally, Project Lead The Way curriculum prepares students for the global economy with STEM training (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math). Corporate and community partners mentor students in these disciplines.

The symposium scheduled a STEM Forum and Expo on Aug. 12-14.

Using the grant, Huntsville City Schools will extend Project Lead The Way to all 26 elementary schools during the 2014-2015 school year. Huntsville teachers already have introduced the project in middle and high schools.

With implementation in elementary grades, Huntsville City Schools now is the largest school system in Alabama to achieve 100-percent participation in Project Lead the Way, Patricia McCarter said. McCarter works as director of communications for the Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County.

The grant allowed 52 Huntsville teachers to complete professional development and purchase required classroom equipment and supplies for the hands-on, project-based curriculum. Lockheed Martin employees will volunteer with the company’s “Engineers in the Classroom” initiative.

Lockheed Martin has committed $6 million in grants nationally to promote Project Lead The Way.

In 2012, the chamber in Huntsville helped with a Lockheed Martin grant that introduced Project Lead The Way at New Century Technology High School. “The expansion into elementary schools creates a seamless transition for future scientists and engineers from the earliest grades through high school and beyond,” McCarter said.

Seventy percent of high school seniors who pursued Project Lead The Way courses intend to study engineering, technology, computer science or another applied science, McCarter said. More than 93 percent of these students plan to pursue a two-year or four-year college degree.

Lockheed Martin employs 1,150 people in Huntsville and Madison County.

For more information, visit pltw.org or smdsymposium.org.