SAN ANGELO, Texas — It was about a month ago that Miles Independent School District superintendent Clint Askins heard about the nonprofit organization Bayer Fund, which works with farmers to invest in STEM programs in rural school districts.
"Bayer presented the opportunity for us to apply for a grant of $15,000. Part of the process was we had to have local farmers nominate us. So, my principles and my grant-writer and I got together and decided that we wanted to update our STEM lab. We're a small rural school district and we do not have a whole lot of funding," Askins said.
Askins, his principles and his grant-writer sent in an application that expressed the district's need for the grant and what the district would use the money for.
"We could use some of this money to buy 3D printers, poster-making machines, some things for our STEM lab students. It's just something that we wouldn't normally be able to afford without the grant," he said.
After filling in an application, the district needed to be nominated by local farmers. Luckily, in the Miles community, generous farmers are not too hard to come by.
"I did it to support our kids. STEM is critically important, not only right now but in their future. We’re all interested in trying to keep our kids employable in the future and skilled for the careers that are ahead of them," said one of the local farmers who nominated Miles for the grant.
Only eleven school districts in the state of Texas recieved this grant from Bayer Fund. Askins said the money will be used for STEM equipment such as a 3D printer, poster-making machines, and even coding robots.