Giving back

AT&T Robotics program

The Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce has announced that the NWA Fab Lab has been awarded a grant in the amount of $24,160 from the AT&T Foundation. The grant will fund an AT&T Robotics program which will provide 48 ninth- and 10th-grade students from Elkins, Greenland, West Fork, Lincoln, Prairie Grove and Farmington hands-on access to technology education and tools. Students will receive training on various types of equipment and technology including 3D printing, laser cutting and engraving, as well as robot-building.

“This generous grant will provide an opportunity for 48 economically and academically disadvantaged students to receive STEM based education outside the walls of a traditional classroom,” said Steve Clark, president and CEO of the Fayetteville Chamber. “We are very thankful to AT&T for their extremely generous support of this program and appreciate the opportunity to work with these students from these rural school districts.”

The students will be taught how to program and build robots. Each group of students from the six schools will exclusively occupy the Fab Lab on six different school days. Each participant will build a functioning robot, pledge to use their robot to benefit their school or the community and pledge to teach at least one other student in their school how to build and program a robot as well. Each student will receive a certificate of achievement for being an “AT&T NWA Robotics Mentor”.