WFISD STEAM Machine in the works

Trish Choate, Wichita Falls Times Record News
·2 min read

Wichita Falls ISD officials hope to have a new STEAM Machine rolling out to students around spring break.

The district plans to repurpose a 2005 unused student activities bus by transforming it into a Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics Machine, Associate Superintendent Peter Griffiths told trustees Monday during a noon School Board meeting.

STEAM combines STEM with the arts, allowing more creativity and flexibility.

"It's a mobile lab," Griffiths said, that "allows students to have access to programs the campuses may not have access to, sort of like a mobile field trip for students."

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The mobile lab will give kids a chance to learn about drones, coding, robotics, the arts and other subjects, and the district can take the STEAM Machine to them, he said.

Superintendent Donny Lee said the mobile learning facility will help make education accessible to children during the summer.

"We talk about summer slide a lot," Lee said. "You can bring that into all the neighborhoods, and all the kids have an opportunity to do some summer learning.”

Griffiths said the funding for the project will come from a $40,000 West Foundation grant and about $39,000 in federal dollars.

The money will convert the bus and buy equipment for the project aimed at elementary and middle-school kids. Locally owned Ruben's House of Classics is expected to carry out the conversion. The automotive business has created a WFISD STEAM Machine logo.

Owner Ruben Rodriguez told the School Board his automotive shop located downtown has plenty of room for the project and has the staff to do it.

Wichita Falls ISD Associate Superintendent Peter Griffiths
Wichita Falls ISD Associate Superintendent Peter Griffiths

Griffiths was seeking the School Board's blessing for the project Monday, and he apparently got it.

"I absolutely love it," Place 3 Trustee Mark Lukert said.

At-large trustee Elizabeth Yeager also said she loved the project.

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This article originally appeared on Wichita Falls Times Record News: WFISD STEAM Machine mobile lab in the works