State and local officials spent Friday morning at Baldwin High School seeing what Head Start and pre-K students are learning through a state grant aimed at providing science and math education.
The PAsmart program, launched by Gov. Tom Wolf two years ago, puts $30 million toward STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) education in schools across the state.
“The point of all this is that one way or another our future – as Pennsylvanians, whether you live in Allegheny County, York County, Philadelphia County or Erie County – our future runs through these halls,” Wolf said addressing teachers, administrators and students.
“We need to do everything we can to support goes on here, for our future, four our economy, for our families,” he said. “We all depend on what you do here.”
Nearly $400,000 of the grant money has gone to the Allegheny County Intermediate Unit to create a curriculum for pre-K students that uses robots, stories and games to teach technology. The Baldwin-Whitehall School District earlier this year received a $35,000 grant to step up computer science education in three elementary schools.
“When we see, at a Head Start program, 3- and 4-year-olds learning how to program autonomous vehicles … that is the future,” Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald said. “The future is STEM. The future is science.”
Baldwin-Whitehall superintendent Randy Lutz said his district has used the grant to invest in computer science classes. He noted the district’s unique position, as the South Hills area has the second-largest refugee population in Southwestern Pennsylvania.
“We believe the skills learned through the study of computer science will provide many students the tools to open more doors and opportunities as they pursue the American dream,” he said.
