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Clemson, S.C. State partner on STEM education

Staff Report //September 19, 2018//

Clemson, S.C. State partner on STEM education

Staff Report //September 19, 2018//

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Clemson University and S.C. State University have received a five-year, $1.28 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to provide science, technology, engineering and math programming for at-risk youths in the state.

Faculty from both institutions worked together to recruit community partners in Allendale, Anderson and Jasper counties to implement the after-school STEM curriculum. Youth development specialists from both universities and participating community youth organizations will deliver the program in the counties beginning this fall, according to a news release.

“South Carolina desperately needs to enhance the educational opportunities for at-risk youth, especially in STEM disciplines,” said Mark Small, chairman of Clemson’s youth, family and community studies department, in the release. “With assistance from Clemson’s 4-H program and camp programs from the Youth Learning Institute, we hope to make a difference.”

The goal of the program is to improve after-school programs serving at-risk youth in rural South Carolina through the delivery of an evidence-based STEM curriculum, the release said. Faculty and extension staff from both institutions will provide leadership and programming for the project at the local level.

Boyd Owens, senior extension director at the S.C. State University 1890 Extension Program, said both institutions have a history of public service in the state.

“As the two land-grant universities in the state, S.C. State and Clemson University have a history of public service to the residents of South Carolina to include underserved communities, and this program seeks to carry on that tradition,” Owens said, in the release. “We can build upon this collaboration to more effectively serve youth throughout our state.”

S.C. State’s 1890 Extension Program provides outreach programs designed to assist rural, urban and suburban residents, with a special emphasis on limited resource communities. The program works to help residents improve their quality of life and achieve their goals through resource management.

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