Caledonia Secondary School is getting $50,000 from a multi-national pharmaceutical company to update its aging and out of date science equipment and enable it to offer programs it can’t do so now.
The grant from Sanofi is one of four provided to schools across the country and this is the first year the company has sponsored the program.
“At Caledonia there is no lack of willingness to repair or build what we need. But as the equipment ages, as great and sturdy as the old equipment was, we cannot find replacement parts and, can no longer repair the aging material,” Caledonia science teacher Kelley Axelson wrote in her grant application.
“In addition, we lack a lot of the technology students in larger centres have access to.”
“We have 21st century needs with 20th century equipment. Dynamic tech tools and equipment for modelling would help engage and inspire our students for years to come,” she added.
Axelson’s list of badly needed items includes introductory robotics equipment, a growing field in the area of technology.
“Additional outlets for the electronic equipment, the existing islands have been updated with one less outlet, hard to share plug space. Larger lab tables to fit the high school size lab students, even chairs that fit the current tables,” Axelson’s needs list continued.
“We do have new equipment but, in the physics class, the “work arounds” trying to make the technology do more than it is capable of, cause it to fail. Our IT department is fabulous but, even they have limits and, we just need the exact equipment for the purpose it is intended,” she said.
Coast Mountains School District superintendent congratulated Axelson for the effort she put into writing the grant application.
“This grant will enable Caledonia Secondary School to upgrade their science laboratories and allow students to explore experiential learning in a deeper and more meaningful way, paving the way for them to be prepared and inspired to become the researchers of tomorrow,” she said.
