Children Benefit from $25,000 Grant

A $25,000 Coachella Valley Spotlight grant presented by the H.N. and Frances C. Berger Foundation will help support the Valley’s FIRST® LEGO® League (FLL) Qualifying Tournament for more than 600 students on November 3.

 These are not the traditional primary color legos you may be accustomed to – when assembled by students of the Science Math and Robotic Technology (SMaRT) Education program, these legos create mobile, functioning robots. 

“The funds from the Berger Foundation are allowing us to take SMaRT Education to the next level. As a new organization, we are growing quickly, and support like this will help us keep up with the demand of people who want to get involved,” said Liberty Naud, Board President, who founded SMaRT Education after seeing a need in her son’s school for more exciting programs to teach children math and science.

“It’s all about the kids! We want children of all ages who think they aren’t capable of doing well in math and science to see that they can learn these principles and have fun doing it.” 

Students from schools throughout the valley engage in research, problem solving, and basic engineering skills through SMaRT Education after-school and summer programs. Students are taught in teams how to build and program robots, construct and launch rockets and research and collect data through each of their endeavors. Leadership skills, teamwork participation and a better understanding of math, science and technology are benefits of these robotics platforms. 

Founded in 2010, last year 2,500 children, teachers and mentors benefitted from SMaRT Education services. This summer, SMaRT offered free robotics programs to students living in Coachella Valley Housing Coalition properties. 

“SMaRT Education is positively affecting many of our valley’s students,” said Christopher McGuire, Vice President of Programs for the H.N. and Frances C. Berger Foundation. “The programs and summer camps are giving kids a new way to learn skills they will need, no matter what their ultimate focus in life becomes.”