Google.Org , SCU’s Ignatian Center Fund STEAM Expansion
MAKING A DIFFERENCE
CORAL STEAM students at Windmill Springs Elementary School recently completed a four-week curriculum on the solar system and participated in a virtual NASA James Webb Space Telescope Outreach Event.
With the support of Google. org and Santa Clara University’s Ignatian Center for Jesuit Education, the STEAM curriculum will be expanded for weekly learning in all 22 Catholic Charities’ after-school locations in Santa Clara County public schools.
Google.org's grant continues their support of the STEAM program offered through CORAL, Catholic Charities’ Extended Learning Program. In 2018, they provided a grant to create a STEM lab at Anne Darling Elementary School. The program has continued to engage students, many from low-income backgrounds, and is now called STEAM, adding “Arts” to the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math curriculum.
Funding from Google.org was especially critical when the pandemic hit and in-person learning was paused. It allowed Catholic Charities to pivot and use the funds to provide virtual curriculum to students across its entire network. Now that schools are open and in-person classes in session, students need the well-rounded curriculum STEAM provides. And the program broadens opportunities and career paths.
Catholic Charities welcomes its newest partner in CORAL funding: Santa Clara University’s Ignatian Center for Jesuit Education which is providing one of its inaugural grants made through the newly created Dan McCormick Technology Fund. Named after an alumnus, the Dan McCormick Technology Fund provides STEM/ STEAM materials and curricular support to organizations addressing academic inequity among local children, in particular those Ignatian Center community partner agencies who host SCU student tutors in conjunction with community-based service-learning courses. CORAL STEAM students at Windmill Springs Elementary School recently completed a four-week curriculum on the solar system and participated in a virtual NASA James Webb Space Telescope Outreach Event.
CCSCC’s after-school/extended learning program, Communities Organizing Resources to Advance Learning (CORAL), is a K-8 educational program focuses on improving academic achievement through literacy and homework support and incorporating STEAM programs throughout the school year.
