Jackson-Madison County Library Awarded STEM Grant from State
JACKSON, Tenn. – The Jackson-Madison County Library was recently awarded a $3,400 STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) grant from the Tennessee State Library and Archives and the Department of Economic and Community Development to promote the use of broadband and digital technology.
As one of eight public libraries in the state to receive this grant, the Library is launching its STEM L.E.A.P initiative (Learn, Explore and Play). The initiative, targeting children and teens, will include hands-on STEM learning, STEM career exploration and activities that inspire creativity and play.
This summer, the Library will be partnering with theCO and the Keep My Hood Good (KMHG) Campaign to offer free Raspberry Pi coding workshops for students in the KMHG program. This hands-on training will then provide the opportunity for KMHG students to assist Library staff in peer-to-peer training for children and teens throughout the Jackson-Madison County area. Grant funds are also being used to create Hands-On STEM Learning Kits for future library programming and in-house circulation, allowing anyone in the community to come to the Library to play with and learn coding concepts using Raspberry Pi kits, Sphero SPRK+ robots, Makey Makey kits, 3D printing pens, Dash and Dot robots, and Oculus Rift virtual reality goggles with Oculus Touch
handheld controllers, in addition to existing Makerspace technology such as a 3D printer and video recording equipment. Ongoing STEM programs using these tools will be offered through the Library’s weekly Maker Monday program for students sixth grade through 12th grade.
“Consistent with the Library’s mission, this program will promote STEM literacy and learning in the lives of children, teens and families,” said Dinah Harris, Library Director. “We will be empowering people from groups that are underrepresented in STEM fields to pursue education in those areas, inspiring young inventors and thinkers and building the community’s confidence in and understanding of STEM education. With the availability of gig Internet service within the Library, our capabilities in offering both programming and resources to our patrons at no cost is unmatched in our community.”
The Library will be partnering with theCO to assist in delivering high-quality STEM programming. Located in Jackson, Tenn., theCO is a collaborative workspace for creatives and entrepreneurs focused on creating jobs and scaling businesses. In 2013, theCO created the Dev Catalyst program to meet the need of improved technology education for Tennessee students and educators. theCO has helped the Library tailor the STEM LEAP program to maximize the impact of the Raspberry Pi workshop by training staff and identifying corresponding hardware that
will allow the Library to offer these workshops throughout the year. The Library will also partner with theCO to invite its entrepreneur and maker members to talk about STEM careers and to share its expertise in working Jackson-Madison County Library │ 433 E. Lafayette │ Jackson, TN 38301 │ 731-425-8600 │ www.jmclibrary.org with some of these new technological tools. The Library previously partnered with the Dev Catalyst program as students designed a special website for the Library’s National Endowment for the Arts Big Read in 2017.
“This partnership with the Library and Keep My Hood Good will help us further the mission of the Dev Catalyst program by not only being able to offer the coding workshop, but by training both the library’s staff and these kids to help teach these concepts to an even wider audience,” said Molly Plyler, Education Outreach Coordinator at theCO. “Together with the Library, we hope to inspire students to enter STEM fields and to help them connect to the area’s growing community of entrepreneurs.”
The Library will also partner with the Keep My Hood Good Campaign (KMHG), a local non-profit group whose primary mission is to mentor the youth in certain high poverty neighborhoods. KMHG is a program started in 2009 to serve the children of Jackson by teaching the principles of accountability, excellence, integrity and respect of self and to others to underprivileged youth in the community. They serve as many as 26 students from local schools each week. This group has partnered with the Library on a recent library technology training grant. These students will form the initial group of Raspberry Pi coding workshop participants and will assist the Library in training their peers during subsequent coding workshops.
“Students in our program don’t have the same access to technology and the Internet as their peers in other parts of the city,” said Juanita Jones, Executive Director of the Keep My Hood Good Campaign. “The Library has been a wonderful partner with us by helping to expose kids to technology and to help them receive hands-on training. We are very excited about giving them the opportunity to increase their confidence in science and technology and to use that knowledge to teach their peers.”
The community is invited to attend an open house from 4 – 6 p.m. at the Main Library on Mon., April 23 to learn more about upcoming STEM programs at the Library and to explore the new Hands-On STEM Learning Kits.
The STEM grants were made possible by Gov. Haslam’s Broadband Accessibility Act and a partnership between the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development and the Tennessee State Library and Archives within the Secretary of State’s office. The grants fund STEM programming for youth that supports broadband adoption by teaching 21st century skills and exposing participants to science and technology. The $3,400 grant awarded to the Library will require a 20 percent match.
The Jackson-Madison County Library is located at 433 E. Lafayette St. in downtown Jackson. For more information, visit the Library’s Facebook page at Facebook.com/JMCLibrary or its website at www.jmclibrary.org.
