The Tennessee Valley Authority awarded the iAcademy at Athens Elementary School a $3,500 grant in partnership with Bicentennial Volunteers Incorporated.

“We are committed to supporting STEM education across the TVA area to help develop today’s students into tomorrow’s engineers, scientists and IT professionals. It’s inspiring to contribute to the innovators of the next generation. We are lucky to have such wonderful partners like BVI and Athens Utilities to join us in supporting teachers and students,” said Ashley Elizabeth Walker with the TVA.

The grant is designed to provide teachers and students with additional resources to help prepare for careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics and to enter the growing STEM workforce in North Alabama.

“Several years ago TVA and BVI joined together to start their STEM Grant Program. By listening to STEM teachers from across the TVA region, we learned that the teachers had great ideas about how to make STEM classes more exciting by making the learning hands-on with real tasks. The thing teachers lacked to do this was funding from their school systems. They had the lesson plans, the ideas and the know-how, but just needed a few thousand dollars to make the magic happen,” said Jim Russell, president of BVI. “TVA and BVI decided to close this gap by providing small grants. Today the program provides about 250 grants per year, totaling $1 million. We do this because the region lacks an adequate number of STEM graduates for its workforce. STEM workers are needed to attract businesses that provide good paying jobs. We want more of our school children to learn to love science, technology, engineering and math and become this future workforce.”

The iAcademy will use the grant to add three hydroponic towers and supporting materials to connect students to agriculture and nutrition as part of their “Grow Our School” initiative.

These materials will allow students to grow fruits and vegetables in their current location while the new Athens Elementary School is constructed.

“iAcademy at Athens Elementary is grateful to TVA, BVI, Athens Utilities Electric Department and the City of Athens, Ala. (public relations) for this opportunity for our students,” said Athens City Schools in a statement.