Pine Forge Academy Celebrates New STEM Space

Story by Dinah Jordan

Allegheny East Conference's Pine Forge Academy (PFA) recently debuted its innovative TE Connectivity STEM Space, designed to promote student interest in science, technology, engineering and math. The new building includes one classroom dedicated to math instruction and a second classroom fully outfitted with a smart board, robotics kits, tablet docking stations and science equipment.

Nicole Hughes, principal, is grateful for the team and leadership at TE Connectivity. “Our dream of constructing this facility was made possible in part by Mr. Lynch and his company,” Hughes shares. Tom Lynch, executive board chairman for TE, represented the company at the recent ribbon-cutting ceremony. “We are delighted to celebrate with the students and faculty of Pine Forge Academy,” said Lynch.

“We were looking for more ways to gain inroads into the African-American community and to help develop a more robust and diverse talent pipeline for years to come,” shares Leilani Scott, vice president for Human Resources at TE. “Pine Forge is passionate about developing an emphasis on technical learning and local partnerships, so we realized a relationship with TE could advance the goals of both groups.”

Dinah Jordan, PFA development officer, agrees: “TE Connectivity is dedicated to encouraging students to consider STEM careers and to provide students of color with access to pre-college STEM learning opportunities.”

The completion of this project marks the launch of the next phase of PFA’s STEM program. Students have already formed robotic teams, built two robots and entered local robotic competitions. Junior Marcel Mattox comments, “The STEM Space will be perfect for our robotics team to design, build, program and test our robots.”