Thanks to The Chuck Lorre Family Foundation, Warner Bros. Television Group, CBS, and Young Sheldon executive producers Jim Parsons and Steven Molaro, 19 public schools have received grants from The Young Sheldon STEM Initiative. Each of the 19 schools will receive a two-year grant specifically “to support each school’s STEM teachers and STEM educational programs within their existing in-class curriculum and/or after-school programs.”
“To those of us involved in making it, Young Sheldon is more than a television series. At its heart, it’s a story about potential,” said Chuck Lorre. “When the education of a child is supported, there is no limit to what that child might eventually achieve. We hope that in some small way, this program gives these public schools more STEM educational tools in the classroom for teachers to nurture and ignite the curiosity of students who will ultimately become our future leaders and scholars.”
The schools benefiting from the grants include three East Texas schools The Big Bang‘s Jim Parsons attended. Young Sheldon‘s Montana Jordan’s mother taught at one of the Texas schools receiving funding, a school Montana also attended.
Highlights of the programs funded include:
• In Texas, students and teachers at each school will attend annual customized educational trips to Space Center Houston, a leading science and space exploration learning center.
• In California, students and teachers from each school will visit NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. Additionally, teachers in both states will have access to JPL and NASA instructional materials (www.jpl.nasa.gov).
• Items identified by the teachers to be funded include robotics kits, computers, iPads, Vernier probeware, lab tables, 3-D printers, LEGO Mindstorm educational kits, general lab equipment, curriculum development and teacher training.
Details on The Young Sheldon STEM Initiative:
“Continuing its commitment to fund innovative efforts in STEM education, The Chuck Lorre Family Foundation (TCLFF) today announced the creation of a new grant program — THE YOUNG SHELDON STEM INITIATIVE — inspired by the hit comedy series Young Sheldon. The program was created to foster excitement for learning in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), specifically in support of our nation’s public schools, teachers and students.”
