The Saline robotics community for grades 4-8 had been struggling with the setup and teardown of large competition fields and the management of tools and materials 4-6 times each week, which consumed much of their practice time and left them with less time to focus on planning, designing, and building their robots and other innovation projects. A separate space for practice would not only have improved their performance but would have made their meetings more about learning and preparing rather than moving supplies.
The grant was proposed as a partnership between the Saline robotics teams for grades 4-8 and the Saline Middle School Media Center to repurpose an old book storage space into a thriving STEM lab by moving the books out of storage into the Media Center where all students could access them.
The grant covered the cost of making the books in storage available to students in the Media Center while also repairing water damage and outfitting the space as a STEM space with storage and simple, second-hand workspace furniture.
