A midcoast school district has been awarded $500,000 to help launch what it says will be the nation’s first career and technical education program for students from preschool to 12th grade.
The St. George Municipal School Unit is receiving the funding from the national Yass Prize competition, which rewards educational innovation through a partnership between Forbes and the Center for Education Reform.
St. George School, located in Tenants Harbor, has about 200 students from kindergarten to 8th grade, and it has been in its own independent school district since 2015. The Yass Prize funding will help it expand a makerspace program started in 2016 that focuses on hands-on work, according to Superintendent Mike Felton.
The district has been working to expand the program for two years and is planning on constructing a new makerspace building to host the program, which will break ground next spring, Felton said in an interview.
Felton said the inspiration for centering hands-on work came from the community. He was selected to be the first superintendent of the newly-independent school district, and had a meeting with community members to decide what their priorities would be for the new school.
“We had a long, long list, but in the end, everyone agreed that the number-one goal was to bring shop back,” Felton said.
This summer, the district became aware of the Yass Prize. After interviews, rigorous training and pitching the idea, the district was one of nine finalists selected from a pool of 33 semifinalists. It fell short of receiving the grand $1 million Yass Prize, which went to Valiant Cross Academy from Montgomery, Alabama.
According to a press release, the midcoast Maine district was selected because it exemplifies the competition’s so-called STOP principles: sustainable, transformational, outstanding and permissionless education.
“The kind of disruption that the awardees are causing in American education is remarkable,” said Jeanne Allen of the Center for Education Reform, in the press release. “St. George Municipal School Unit is among the very best of American endeavors in education.”
The makerspace will combine new technologies such as 3D printing, laser-cutting and robotics with more traditional hands-on work like boatbuilding, metalwork and sewing, Felton said.
“I mean, they’re 3D-printing the hulls for lobster boats now,” Felton said.
The $500,000-prize will contribute to the district’s $2.7 million it’s raised so far for the makerspace building. The goal of the new building is to realize a “vision for the future that’s rooted in the past,” Felton said.
“We’re talking about 3D printers and laser cutters, but it goes back to a history of fishermen, boatbuilders, farmers, mechanics, cooks, artisans and engineers that have all been a part of our culture and our community,” Felton said.
