AFCEA Aids Disaster Relief in North Carolina With STEM Grant
When the southeastern United States was pummeled by Hurricane Matthew in October, the AFCEA Educational Foundation and the North Carolina and South Carolina Low Country chapters were able to provide assistance to local schools in the hardest-hit areas.
It can be easy to forget that AFCEA is more than a professional association—AFCEA is a community. When the southeastern United States was pummeled by Hurricane Matthew in October, the AFCEA Educational Foundation and the North Carolina and South Carolina Low Country chapters were able to provide assistance to local schools in the hardest-hit areas.
The storm caused more than $1.5 billion in damage to more than 100,000 homes, businesses, schools and government buildings in North Carolina. One town, Lumberton, was hit especially hard. The AFCEA community is assisting with relief efforts there.
Lumberton Junior High School was not damaged, but it absorbed more than 100 students from nearby schools that were. To aid the recovery, AFCEA provided a $1,000 science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) grant to Phyllis King’s seventh- and eighth-grade classes to purchase a laptop, invention kits, solar labs and robotics software.
The students at Lumberton Junior High are planning to participate in the North Carolina Future City Competition this month. During the contest, students will solve an engineering problem, create a virtual city and build a physical model. In addition, robotics and solar education are being added to King’s curriculum this year. The STEM grant will greatly assist with these initiatives.
This type of local support in the wake of a natural disaster would not be possible without AFCEA’s generous chapters, corporate members and sponsors and individual members who donate to the AFCEA Educational Foundation on an annual basis. To make a donation, please visit url.afcea.org/donateSTEM.
