$1.42 Million Awarded to Adventist Schools, $165,000 to Columbia Union Schools

Versacare Foundation awarded $1,420,000 in grant funding to 189 Adventist primary and secondary schools across the United States and Canada in support of STEM education (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math). Versacare awarded $165,000 to 21 schools in the Columbia Union Conference.

"The Columbia Union Office of Education is grateful to the Versacare Foundation for providing these grants to advance STEM education in 21 of our PK-12 schools for the 2020-21 school year," says Donovan Ross, vice president for Education in the Columbia Union. "This will enable our schools to fund robotics programs, equip science labs, and to purchase hardware and software that will help to to strengthen the existing STEM programs or to initiate new ones." 

This was Versacare Foundation’s fifth successive year funding STEM grants and marked the third consecutive year it funded every school that applied for a STEM grant. The STEM grant program has provided funding in three categories:

• $5,000 for smaller schools of 3 classrooms or less;

• $10,000 for larger schools of 4 or more classrooms and 12-year schools;

• $10,000 for senior academies.

The many uses of STEM funds include the purchase of classroom smart boards, tablets or Chromebooks for student use, equipping or updating student computer labs, installation of 3D printers and related software, initiating or funding robotics programs, instruction in software coding, and the equipping of chemistry, physics and biology labs, and more.

Through 2020, Versacare Foundation has provided 417 schools with a total of $3,245,000 in STEM grant funding. Attached please find a complete list of the schools funded in 2020

After funding nearly half of all Adventist primary and secondary schools across the NAD with STEM grants, Versacare Foundation has ended its STEM school grant program and for 2021 will focus on funding STEM training for teachers.

For more information about Versacare Foundation’s grant program, please contact us using the information below or visit versacare.org.