STEM education funding brings Cantwell to Olympic High School

U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell visited Tuesday with Olympic High School staff and students after aiding Central Kitsap School District's pursuit of federal funding in the area of STEM education.

The visit, which included a tour of Olympic's aviation and robotics departments, included a roundtable discussion focused on increasing STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) opportunities both locally and across the state.

For Central Kitsap School District specifically, Cantwell supported a $2 million Department of Defense Education Award (DoDEA) grant that will allow the district to move forward with its "Secondary STEM Project," designed at enabling and preparing middle school and high school students for STEM-related career opportunities.

“It’s really our job to look ahead and look around the corner to where we need to prepare these kids for," said Doug Dowell, CKSD's STEM Coordinator and Grant Supervisor.

Dowell said CKSD learned its Secondary STEM Project grant proposal was awarded Sept. 22. The grant will run through May 2027.

Additionally, Cantwell secured $500,000 in the Fiscal Year 2022 Omnibus Appropriations bill to expand the ‘Engineering is Elementary’ curriculum across CKSD's 12 elementary schools. The district provided training for 170 teachers over the summer and sent 23 teachers to the Museum of Science in Boston for additional training.

Dowell said the district has secured $14.3 million in federal grant funding since 2011, with $12.9 million coming from DoDEA grants. To be eligible for DoDEA funding, school districts must have a 10% or greater military-connected student enrollment. With CKSD located near Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor, Naval Hospital Bremerton and the Naval Undersea Warfare Center Keyport, Dowell said the district's estimated military-connected enrollment total is 35-45%

Regarding Cantwell's visit, Dowell said Tuesday provided the district the opportunity to show how the funding its received — a majority of which is tied to STEM advancements — is being utilized.

"Let’s see where those dollars are going, how are you using them, what’s going on," Dowell said.

Cantwell began her tour on Olympic High School's campus viewing the school's dedicated space for manufacturing technology, which trains students in both aviation manufacturing and flight simulation. The tour also made stops at classroom spaces designed for instruction in 3-D animation, photography/drones, sports medicine and health science.

Dowell said aviation curriculum is somewhat of a rarity at the secondary education (grades 6-12) level, but it is offered at all of CKSD's middle schools and two high schools: Olympic and Central Kitsap. He noted Klahowya Secondary School would be joining that list in the near future.

Dowell noted that CKSD has an existing partnership with Horizon Air and parent company Alaska Airlines. Eight aviation students recently completed paid summer internships that involved training in every aspect of the airline business.

This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun: School STEM funding brings Cantwell to Olympic High School