BOONE, Iowa—The Iowa Governor’s STEM Advisory Council has directed an additional $10,000 grant to support the Boone EDGE STEM BEST (Businesses Engaging Students and Teachers) Program through the STEM BEST Program Enhancement Fund. The funds will help enhance work-based learning opportunities made available through school and business partnerships during the 2019-2020 academic year.
The STEM BEST Program Enhancement Fund supports previously awarded STEM BEST Programs that demonstrated evidence of how the funds would enrich or expand current STEM BEST Programs, strengthen partnerships, enhance experiences for students and increase participation of students of diversity.
The Boone EDGE program is built on developing a set of six core skills: communication, collaboration, adaptability; forward-thinking, self-awareness, cultural; global awareness, and professionalism; employability. The program’s goal is to ensure all students, regardless of interests and abilities, have opportunities to develop these skills for postsecondary success. In the past two years, the program has demonstrated that students can build these skills while taking part in work-based learning.
The EDGE includes various work-based learning approaches that allow students to explore careers and gain advanced career training and preparation. Apprenticeships, job-shadows, and project-based learning are key components. The experience of an EDGE student is individualized to the students’ interests and needed supports to build core skills. Thus, each students’ EDGE story and growth as an individual is unique. Opportunities to share these stories have proven to be incredibly powerful, not only for student learning and self-reflection but also for overall program growth.
Our proposal will expand our student’s experiences through the addition of a sharing and presentation component within each EDGE class. Currently, some classes include this opportunity, but not all. Additionally, chances for students to present or share their work are often only for internal audiences of other students and teachers. We plan to add regular presentation days for all EDGE classes as well as an EDGE student showcase during our spring parent conferences. Families and community partners will be invited to these events. Students will share a highlight of their EDGE experience, describing their growth in each of the six core skills within it.
Kris Byam, Boone High School Principal says “The Boone Edge program is a comprehensive, community-based, collaborative learning environment that helps all students find their passion through work-based learning.” He says “We’ve partnered with area businesses to create a one-of-a-kind work-based learning experience for all of our students. This grant will help give our students opportunities to gain job-specific skills and build core skills in communication, collaboration, self-awareness, adaptability, global awareness, and employability skills. This funding will help continue our push to give all of our .”
Recipients of the STEM BEST Program Enhancement Fund include:
- Allamakee Community School District
- Ankeny Community School District
- Boone Community School District
- CAM Community School District
- Cedar Falls Community School District
- Central Community School District
- Davenport West Community School District
- IKM-Manning Community School District
- Charles City, New Hampton, Osage and Rudd-Rockford-Marble Rock Community School Districts
- Keokuk Community School District
- Marshalltown Community School District
- Newton Community School District
- Rock Valley Community School District
- Sioux City Community School District
- Southwest Valley School District
- St. Theresa Catholic School (Des Moines)
- Waukee Community School District
- Woodbine Community School District
The Iowa Governor’s STEM Advisory Council has named 63 STEM BEST Program awards since the program launched in 2014. For more information about the STEM BEST Program, visit www.IowaSTEM.gov/STEMBEST.
