3rd grade awarded a SEMA grant

SEMA GRANT/Morrisville College 3rd Grade Field Trip

    After submitting a proposal to the SEMA organization (Specialty Equipment Market Association), Mrs. Goodfellow was awarded a $1,000 Grant for our 3rd grade students to become engaged in the field of automotive design/engineering.  On April 26th, as part of our SEMA Grant, our 3rd grade traveled to Morrisville College. Professor Ray Grabowski gave us, and Mark Frigon with several FP HS students, a guided tour through their Design/Engineering division. We then visited their Automotive Dept. We saw all sorts of vehicles in various stages of design. We were able to see college students working on engines, repairing cars, and had the chance to explore the tools and machines required in this process. College students and their professors spoke to our children about their responsibilities/opportunities and how our students could become involved in the future. They were patient, spoke respectfully to our students on their level, and allowed them to ask as many questions as they liked.

    3rd graders have been designing drawings of their own “one of a kind” vehicles and writing narratives to describe them. We will be sending thank you letters to Prof. Grabowski and including copies of their vehicles. We will also be engineering K’NEX motorized race cars along with the HS students. Included in the grant proposal was $170 worth of children’s literature based on automotive design/engineering for elementary students. The students are absolutely “eating them up”!

    This was the first time SEMA has offered this grant and the first opportunity of its kind @ F-P! My hope is that SEMA will be offering additional grants in upcoming years!