We're excited to kick off the summer months with the announcement of our sixth EdTech grant of the year. For June, we've selected David Roy as the recipient of our $500 monthly award! David is an administrator at the Columbia Memorial Space Science Learning Center in Downey, CA. He works largely with Title I students in middle and high school, creating experiential STEM opportunities for them to bolster key skills outside of school. He's also helped fortify the organization's Maker Mentor program, specifically. With this commitment to STEAM, we're happy to support David and his colleagues with the awarding of our latest grant!
David is also largely responsible for creating valuable afterschool STEM opportunities for students. Through the Maker Mentor Program, in particular, he connects students with makers in their community. With help from volunteers, students get the chance to see how 21st century problem solvers utilize specific skills and approaches in the real world. Through problem-based projects, workshops, demonstrations, and even internships, David's students have chances to bolster their presence in STEM programs, which is amazing since students in this area can be underserved in that regard.
As you might have guessed from its name, the Maker Mentor program helps David place an emphasis on maker-based learning experiences and maker education initiatives. Students from all over Los Angeles county take part in the program. The hands-on opportunities they get to participate in at the Columbia Space Center have been very powerful and transformative. They've been able to create lasting connections between their own experiences, those of STEM professionals in their communities, and the possibility of exploring STEM careers in the future. Using the museum as a hub for building these relationships, David is certainly impacting many students at the moment and he has plans to expand his efforts as well.
David is in the midst of creating new relationships with local makers. He hopes to leverage relationships with at least a couple dozen of them to attract more students to the program by the end of 2022. These professionals will help make the museum a hub where students can share ideas, host project sessions, and explore activities. He also knows that these professionals need STEM and maker tools to create the best experiences for students. This is partly what led to him apply for our grant and we're, of course, happy to help. David has plans to eventually introduce students to various areas of STEM education, including 3D printing and UAVs, as the mentors guide their experiences in the classroom.
There's also a mission-based component to David's efforts. He helped launch the Maker Mentor program during a year of service with Americorps. Much of the intent he put into creating the program also came about from his own childhood experiences. Growing up in South LA, he noticed that finding mentors was extremely difficult. In an effort to help reverse this trend, the Maker Mentors program makes formal mentorship much more accessible for all kids and teens. With such diversity present in Los Angeles, students who participate get the chance to learn all kinds of new things!
It's certainly a fantastic initiative and we're more than happy to support David. For his grant award, we're working on finalizing the STEM materials we'll be sending to the museum. Since David is interested both 3D printing and educational drones, it will likely be a combination of those. He had his eye on some 3Doodler 3D printing pens as well as some of DJI's Tello EDU drones.
Again, we congratulate David on his selection as this month's EdTech grant recipient and thank him for applying! We can't wait to see how he uses some new STEAM tools in the museum's Maker Mentor program. More importantly, we're sure his efforts will have a profoundly positive effect on many students around the city. If you'd like to apply for our July grant, the application is open now. We've received a bunch of applications already, so we encourage you to get them in soon! Feel free to send the link to STEM and technology professionals in your school or district as well! In the meantime, follow us on Twitter and Instagram for more.