Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
Tesla investment
The company recently announced the first $1.5 million grant funding, which is part of a $37.5 million investment in education planned over the next five years to benefit STEM education in Nevada. The first recipients are:
■ $315,550 to FIRST Nevada and $127,100 to Robotics Education and Competition Foundation as part of a multiyear investment aimed at establishing the high school robotics programs.
■ $263,924 to the Desert Research Institute to development of a teacher training infrastructure focusing on robotics and STEM.
■ $262,700 to The Envirolution, Inc. for the Project ReCharge initiative, a program which teaches students about energy and ends with students on a real-life quest to improve efficiency for a local school or business.
■ $200,000 to Jobs for Nevada’s Graduates to develop a new “Education to Employment” pathway across Nevada industries and expand access to the program by 20 percent.
■ $154,083 to Sierra Nevada Journeys to provide 250 scholarships for students in underserved communities to attend the Overnight Outdoor Learning program at Grizzly Creek Ranch, increase access to STEM programs to 900 additional students and start a new Girls in Engineering camp in partnership with Tesla team members.
■ $76,643 to Energetics Education to pilot the Solar Rollers program in Washoe County. High school teams design, build, test and race sophisticated solar-powered, radio-controlled cars. This is the only program that does not currently exist in Nevada in some form.
■ $50,000 each to Clark and Washoe counties to establish a new career technical education positions to train and implement programming from within. The role will also support rural districts. Zackary Perry, a 17-year-old senior theater major, has experience with tools from building sets. But programming was new to all of them, including Trujillo.
That’s where organizations like First Nevada came in. They run training programs for rookies and Trujillo said she signed herself and her team up for as many as she could.
“They were incredibly helpful,” she said. “You can’t have an ego when you do this, you have to ask for help.”
Right now, Trujillo’s team is focusing on grassroots organizing efforts, looking for sponsors and other donations to build on money donated by Stephen and Susan Philpott last year. Competition entry fees can be as high as $6,000, and there are substantial costs associated with tools and materials as well.
The Tesla donation to First Nevada will help schools cover startup costs, but the idea is to wean new teams off that funding as they, too, harness support for the programs from their communities as LVA is doing.
“The first year, they don’t focus on fundraising, it’s all taken care of, then amounts go down so they can learn the fundraising,” Quick said. “It sets them up for success.”