Lockheed Martin… Helping To Lead The Way (STEM)

[SatNews] Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] donated $13,000 to the Lakeland School District in Jermyn, PA, and $8,000 to the Forest City School District in Forest City, PA, in support of a pre-engineering curriculum called Project Lead The Way (PLTW).



The Lakeland school district is now in its second year with PLTW, offering pre-engineering courses to 9th and 10th grade students with courses such as Introduction to Engineering Design and Principles of Engineering. The $13,000 grant will provide Lakeland the resources to continue the implementation and advancement of curriculum and extracurricular activities. For the 2010-2011 school year, the Forest City school district offered courses such as History of Flight & Space and Aeronautics, which are part of the curriculum at the high school and middle school levels for the third year. A portion of the $8,000 grant received will go toward a FIRST® Lego® League robot activity or competition planned for 7th and 8th grade students participating in the PLTW curriculum.



“The investment we make in our local communities goes beyond financial support,” said John Laboranti, Archbald Site director at Lockheed Martin. “Our engineers invest their time, energy and expertise to mentor and inspire students into college engineering programs. Lockheed Martin recognizes the critical need our nation has to graduate more science, technology, engineering and math students into high technology and engineering careers in order to ensure our technological leadership and national security capabilities.”



Project Lead The Way is a national, not-for-profit educational program that gives middle and high school students the rigorous ground-level education needed to develop strong backgrounds in science and engineering. As part of a PLTW requirement, business partnership teams have been established with Forest City and Lakeland schools, where Lockheed Martin engineers have volunteered to serve as student mentor/advisors. In this capacity, engineers will assist technology teachers to continue developing and inspiring students into college engineering programs. The engineering-focused curriculum of PLTW, which complements math and science college preparatory programs, is the basis of Engineers in the Classroom. Lockheed Martin engineers in Archbald visit classrooms where they speak to students about engineering principles and college opportunities, as well as share their own education and career experiences. Engineers also participate in high career fairs where student outreach totals more than 2,000 students each year. Company engineers volunteer their time to mentor students with events such as the Abington Heights High School FIRST Robotics Team and the Pennsylvania Northeast Regional Bridge Building Competition. Across the Corporation, engineers are working with educators to bring science, technology, engineering and math principles into classrooms in interesting and relevant ways as part of its Lockheed Martin Engineers in the Classroom initiative and with PLTW business partnership teams.