2025-26 Seed Grant Awards

Rainbow Elementary School (Madison County, Alabama)
Mrs. Kesha Lovejoy
Immersive STEM Learning with Virtual and Augmented Reality
This project will enhance STEM learning for 4th and 5th grade special education students using Virtual and Augmented Reality (VR/AR) technology. Students will explore STEM concepts interactively, improving knowledge retention, problem-solving, and teamwork. The project includes teacher training, implementation of VR/AR experiences within STEM lessons, and evaluation of student progress. The acquired equipment and software will be reused with other classes and teachers.

Roger B. Chaffee Elementary (Madison County, Alabama)
Mrs. Joni Graley
Greenpower Club
Students involved in Greenpower learn about keeping our environment clean, team work, using technology to build presentations, engineering a drivable car, and about laws of motion. We are in constant need of parts and are trying to get enough funds for the school to purchase a new car.

Riverside Christian Academy (Lincoln County, Tennessee)
Mrs. Olivia Wise
Robotics Team
Students must be equipped to create, innovate, and think critically to tackle complex challenges. They should master math, science, technology, and engineering, and be eager to apply this knowledge in real-world scenarios. To achieve this, we must provide modern tools and methods that engage students and enhance their learning. Robotics kits, available to schools, introduce students of all ages to the core principles of these subjects.

Hazel Green High School (Madison County, Alabama)
Mrs. Teresa Hodge
First Person Drone Program
Our school would like to create a FPV,First Person Vehicle,Drone program.The students would fly and operate a FPV drone,which are currently being added to many commercial and military programs.Once trained on these drones our students would be able to participate in online virtual drone competitions. We will be partnering with our JROTC program to make this program available to a wide range of students.FPV drones are an emerging technology that incorporates virtual reality with flying drones.The students use a headset to either maneuver a virtual world or fly using cameras on the drone itself.

Whitesburg Middle School (Madison County, Alabama)
Ms. Nancy Junkins
Greenpower Vertical Team
The goal of the Greenpower USA Foundation is "to advance the understanding of STEM topics and inspire innovation in young people through the immersive experience of designing, building, and racing electric-powered vehicles." The students in HCS Greenpower at Whitesburg Middle and HCT High School will be collaborating together to compete in the 2025-2026 Greenpower season. These teams are established and have top 10 national rankings. The students will explore modifications to the F24 electric race car, in order to increase performance for the 25-26 competition season.

Limestone County Career Technical Center (Limestone County, Alabama)
Ms. Monica Hobson
25-26 Team 34 Robotics
Team 34 participates in the FIRST FRC competition. It is a program that teaches students the principles of engineering and how to work as a team. In a short amount of time, students must work together and design and program a functioning robot to compete in that year's game. It is designed to promote interest in careers in the STEM fields. The competitions are opportunities to work with teams all over the country to achieve their goals. They will showcase and demonstrate at these competitions. This program is designed to give students real-world experience applicable to the STEM industry.

Lincoln County High School (Lincoln County, Tennessee)
Ms. Mary E LeBlanc (Marty)
Lincoln County Schools Robotics Program
Students in grades 7-12 will design, build, and program robots to compete in the exciting and fast-paced FIRST Tech Challenge. Using a reusable kit of parts and guided by engineering principles, teams will work collaboratively to solve real-world-inspired challenges. Along the way, students develop skills in coding, electronics, public speaking, and teamwork, building confidence, creativity, and critical thinking for the future.

Huntsville Center For Technology (Madison County, Alabama)
Mr. Christopher Whaley
Carbon Fiber Monocoque- Greenpower
This project will result in the production of a custom, student designed and built, carbon fiber monocoque for a Greenpower racecar. Through this program students will develop a working knowledge of drafting, solid modeling, mold design, draft angle analysis, adding draft angles, 3D printing, post processing of 3d printed components for use as plugs, building a mold from those plugs, planning and preparing to lay carbon fiber composites, and finally laying and resin infusing carbon fiber composites. Many of these fields offer career paths through secondary education or direct-to-work paths

F. E. Burleson Elementary (Morgan County, Alabama)
Mrs. Stephanie Roden
Bridging Gifted Education and STEM Integration in Early Grades
Through this program, early elementary students will begin learning through the engineering design process. The gifted teacher will mentor second-grade educators in integrating engineering and computer science concepts into their classrooms using the VEX GO Classroom STEM Lab. As our robotics teams in upper elementary is growing, the project's primary objective is to enhance STEM education at the early elementary level by empowering teachers with the tools and knowledge to effectively incorporate hands-on, inquiry-based learning experiences.

Seed Grants for Previous Years

The following documents provide abstracts for the Seed Grant proposals that have been funded over the past several years.

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