Brookfield High School was recently awarded three Perkins Innovations Grants from the Connecticut State Department of Education (CTSDE) totaling $53,636 to start up two new programs that will give students real-world work experience.
The three competitive grants were approved by evaluations teams that matched the proposals against other potential candidates, according to School-to-Career and Career and Technical Education Coordinator Susan Troupe, who wrote the grant proposals.
The first grant (see full details on all three below), for $29,386, will be used to research, prepare for and build a greenhouse. Working with New Milford Hospital’s Plow to Plate program, the students will not only be learning about farming but also the business of agriculture.
The second grant, for $19,000, will be used to purchase a Plasma Cam Cuter system, a 3-D printer and a Robotic DVD duplicator to teach students about modern manufacturing methods and Ecommerce.
A third grant for $5,250 is for three “externships” this summer for Troupe, Erin Stolfi and Tech Ed teacher Rob Zapor to gain real-world experience in the industries they will be teaching about this fall.
“These three projects are very exciting,” Troupe said. “Once our projects are running, we will have an open house that will be open to students, parents, the Brookfield Chamber of Commerce members and the community to come and share and demonstrate with them what we are doing.”
The programs will likely also coordinate with the organic gardening programs at Huckleberry Hill Elementary School and Whisconier Middle School, as well as the horticulture program at Naugatuck Valley Community College
Summary of Three Grants:
Grant 1: $29,386 for the “Development of Social, Emotional and Physical Development Practices for the Student Success Plan (SSP) through Career and Technical Education (CTE).” This grant must be completed and all money must be spent by June 30, 2014.
This is the most complex of the three grants:
1. There will be an after school program that is co-sponsored by New Milford Hospital’s “Plow to Plate Program” called, “Young Chef Advocacy Program.” Twelve BHS high school students from grades 9-12 will be recruited, interviewed and selected to participate in this unique program that will meet 15 times between Feb. 2014 and June 2014.
2. There will be four field trips, in which students will go to various farms and locations where the origin of the food that they will be cooking is located: e.g., organic farm in Kent, beef cattle farmer in Bridgeport, fisherman in Stonington, CT and an urban farm in New Britain. The students will meet with the farmers/fishermen etc and learn about what it takes to create the plant produce, animals, etc. The next week they will cook the food from that trip and have a dinner whereby they will invite people from the community which could include parents, siblings, town officials, etc. The students will make presentations during the meals about what they learned in that unit. There will be a culminating experience at the end of the program.
3. Anne Gallagher, a professional chef and Diane M. D’Isidori, M.D., a pediatrician who is trained in nutrition will be teaching the after school program. They have already developed the curriculum. Lee Gregoras, the Family Consumer Science (FCS) teacher and Susan Troupe, the CTE Coordinator will be the co-advisors for the program. Students will learn soft skills/21st Century skills needed in the workplace such as: communication, collaboration, creativity, problem solving, responsible citizenship and advocacy, and information literacy.
4. There will be one-day training on a Saturday for the students on development of leadership skills.
5. There are some funds for a small committee to plan the greenhouse. It will be headed by Erin Stolfi, the Reading Specialist, whose hobby is working with plants, gardening and landscaping. Part of the committee’s purpose will be to look at other educational sites in Connecticut to see how their program is set up and how they create sustainability by selling plants.
6. The purpose of the greenhouse is:
a. Grow organic produce, herbs, etc that can be used by Whitsons and the Family and Consumer Science (FCS) “Culinary Arts” courses as well as the new after school program, “The Young Chef Advocacy Program.” We also would like to donate some of the produce to the Brookfield Food Bank.
b. Create opportunities for the school to use it as a teaching site. Students will learn 21st century skills such as working together, responsibility, team work, etc. Also, both the culinary arts program and the science department can use it for teaching points and experiments. The English Department and other classes or after school programs could use the greenhouse for creating writing prompts and writing children’s’ books.
c. In order to make the greenhouse sustainable by there will also be an enterprise piece whereby students will grow plants that can be sold for various occasions and seasons such as: Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Easter/Passover, Mother’s Day, flowers for corsages for proms to name a few. Any excess funds received will be put back into the program to keep it sustainable.
7. Students from Mr. Settle’s classes as well as some of the students from Mrs. Gregoras’ Culinary Arts Program will help with maintaining the greenhouse during the school year and during the summer via summer school. We will also explore sustainable watering systems.
8. There are some funds to purchase a basic greenhouse after all research is completed regarding the type and size of green house, where it will be located within the school.
9. Community members interested in helping in the planning and/or donating their time and materials should contact Ms. Troupe.
Grant 2: $19,000 Development of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Program in Rapid /Direct Digital Manufacturing Project. This grant must be completed and all money must be spent by September 30, 2013.
The Technical Education Department and their manufacturing classes as well as the after school Brookfield FIRST Robotics Team (DiscoTechs) are going to partner with the Marketing Education Department. The Marketing Education Department is teaching a new course called, “Ecommerce” that class along with the DECA (the Marketing Club) will create some items that they want to sell and then it will be sent to the Manufacturing Part of Tech Ed where they will convert the designs into Computer Aided Design (CAD) and from that they create 3-D models using a 3-D printer.
The funds are for buying equipment: a Plasma Cam Cuter system; 3-D printer; and a Robotic DVD duplicator. Plus one field trip for students from both classes to visit a manufacturing facility. We have built some sustainability into this grant, in that students will be able to create items to sell and then excess money can go back into maintaining the equipment and buying new material to be used with the machines.
Grant 3: $5,250 Externships for Secondary Educators. This grant must be completed and all money must be spent by September 30, 2013.
The grant includes stipends for externships for BHS faculty to work in the community. At the end of the externship they will take that information back and incorporate it into their curriculum. Then, they will have an informal presentation to their co-workers and the administration during the fall of 2013.
The recipients are:
Rob Zapor, the Technical Education Teacher will be going to work in a business that has a 3-D Printer and ideally a Plasma cutter. If anyone in the area would like him to work at their site please contact Ms. Troupe.
Susan Troupe, the CTE Coordinator and HOSA Advisor will be working at New Milford Hospital with Susan Twombly, Coordinator for the Plow to Plate Program. This will be in preparation for the new after school program; Young Chef Advocacy Program and supporting other Plow to Plate activities.
Erin Stolfi, the Reading Specialist will be working in a local nursery grower to learn more about creating our new Greenhouse.
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