CHS students will soon have access to gadgets galore thanks to a generous grant. The Science Technology Engineering Math Grant (STEM) has recently been awarded to CHS and SMS in the amount of $691,109.00. This is a clearly massive amount of money that will serve as a catalyst to prepare students for 21^st century learning. Receiving this money is a prestigious honor. The grant was awarded to only one school in each of the thirteen congressional districts in Georgia. Some of you readers may be thinking just what exactly is a STEM Grant? STEM is a two-year grant in which all money is awarded up-front. However, the money can only be used for hardware and software and training.

                Science and Math students will reap the benefits of the grant by working through a realistic crime scene set up at Chattooga High. Students will put their forensic skills to work to investigate the scene and then analyze the data using skills learned in their math classes to determine what happened. The technology and engineering part of the grant is the greater part. The grant is funding a Mac Lab including Apple Mac computers, video conferencing between schools, Itouch podcasting, laptop carts, HD digital camera/video cameras, flip cameras, a robotics section, and each teacher working under the grant will receive a Mac Pro computer and Ipad. In the second year of the grant, there will be an extension to Menlo and Lyerly schools.

                There are several people involved in making this grant possible.  On the committee are Rick Clifton (Chattooga Schools I.T. Coordinator), and Dr. Donna Herring (Institutional Technology Department at Jacksonville State University). The teachers involved with the grant at CHS are: Julie Lambert (Science), Liza Morgan and Renee Martin (Math), Kathy Daniel (Healthcare), and Eleanor Brown (Computer and Instructional Technology). “I think it is great for our kids to get to use technology in forms other than just computers. Through this experience, they will get to see real world science and math at work,” comments Eleanor Brown.