Charlotte, NC (Tuesday, November 4, 2025) – The Environmental Training Initiative at present introduced the 5 2025-2026 recipients of The Nationwide Environmental Training Basis (NEEF) Greening STEM Grant. The Environmental Training Initiative by Discovery Training with NEEF and different companions is a first-of-its-kind program designed to have interaction college students in environmental science, empower them to make knowledgeable choices for wholesome environments, and promote civic engagement. Discovery Training is the maker of important PreK-12 studying options utilized in school rooms world wide.
The Greening STEM Grants help packages that infuse environmental science and sources into faculty curriculum targeted on student-directed investigations of related matters of analysis, native environmental points, or points impacting native public lands.
“By way of these grants, we search to problem formal and nonformal educators to design and ship STEM programming that engages youth in place-based studying,” stated Robert Sendrey, program director for environmental training at NEEF. “We additionally hope to empower educators to construct a tradition that values utilizing the atmosphere as a context for bettering scholar studying and achievement.”
Initiatives that actively concerned college students in citizen/group science or environmental monitoring throughout the 2025–2026 faculty 12 months have been particularly highlighted, reflecting the worth of experiential, place-based STEM training. The next initiatives have been chosen to obtain as much as $7,000 every in STEM grant funding:
Rising Inexperienced
Fairfield County College District in Winnsboro, South Carolina
The “Rising Inexperienced” venture is a student-led greenhouse initiative in Winnsboro, South Carolina, targeted on hands-on environmental STEM studying for Grades 5-6. The venture entails 80 college students and goals to boost Twenty first-century expertise by way of immersive studying of earth and life sciences. Tutorial methods combine Greening STEM strategies, together with project-based and community-based approaches. Challenge companions embody Fairfield Profession and Know-how Middle, Sandhill Analysis and Training Middle, and varied different stakeholders.
Exploring Earth & Past: Connecting Native Studying to the Cosmos
Fairfield County College District in Winnsboro, South Carolina
Throughout this interdisciplinary venture for Grades 5-6, roughly 100 college students will discover ideas associated to Earth’s place within the universe, gentle and shadows, and gravitational pressure by way of place-based investigations, moon section journals, digital and 3D scale mannequin constructing, and interactive science labs utilizing actual information. The venture will culminate with a area journey to the South Carolina State Museum Planetarium in Columbia, South Carolina, the place college students will take part in a full-dome immersive planetarium present and work together with museum reveals that reinforce classroom studying. Companions embody the South Carolina State Museum Planetarium, native STEM professionals, and group members.
College Backyard
R.E. Davis Faculty Preparatory Academy in Sumter, South Carolina
This venture entails a college backyard initiative that integrates STEM courses and an after-school gardening membership. The anticipated impression contains educating over 20 college students gardening expertise in small areas. Tutorial methods contain scholar involvement, group help, and curriculum integration, together with project-based studying and using a Backyard STEM science curriculum. Native companions like the Clemson College Cooperative Extension and Sumter County Grasp Gardeners Affiliation will help gardening initiatives and academic actions. Moreover, the venture will process college students with designing robots that might assist enhance classroom studying whereas enhancing productiveness within the faculty backyard.
Bengal Biodiesel
Blythewood Excessive College, Richland College District Two in Blythewood, South Carolina
The Bengal Biodiesel program at Blythewood Excessive College recycles cooking oil into biodiesel for varsity transport and produces hand cleaning soap from glycerin waste. Funding for this venture will assist broaden the present biodiesel program whereas partnering with organizations for scholar studying experiences and coaching college students to change into leaders in sustainability. Roughly 40 college students will achieve marketable expertise and over 100 hours of hands-on expertise by way of this system, which entails producing biodiesel for varsity buses. This system has partnered with organizations such because the Palmetto Clear Fuels Coalition, South Carolina Vitality Workplace, and Inexperienced Vitality Biofuel to offer internships, industry-standard procedures, and audits to boost the coed expertise.
Free House Inexperienced Crew
Free House Elementary College in Canton, Georgia
The “Free House Inexperienced Crew” venture at Free House Elementary College goals to implement a Greening STEM venture involving school-wide recycling and STEM actions to scale back their carbon footprint, broaden current STEM packages, and have interaction 300 college students in real-time environmental impression consciousness. The venture contains educational methods specializing in real-world conservation, information assortment, and hands-on experiences with the college’s STEM Cart, which has developmentally acceptable STEM video games and exercise kits for every grade degree. Challenge companions embody Free House Elementary’s Inexperienced College Coordinator—who is answerable for displaying college students which supplies are acceptable to recycle at bins situated round campus—and the native PTA, which is able to assist obtain venture objectives of lowering plastic use, decreasing power prices, and growing group engagement.
The funding recipients have been chosen from among the many members of the Discovery Educator Community, or DEN. A worldwide group of training professionals, the DEN connects members throughout faculty methods and world wide by way of social media, digital conferences, and in-person occasions, fostering helpful concept sharing and inspiration. This 12 months, the DEN is celebrating 20 years of connecting educators to their most useful useful resource: one another.
“Analysis reveals that college students thrive when classroom classes are participating and linked to the broader world. These real-world connections not solely strengthen vital considering but in addition increase educational achievement. We’re proud to have a good time every of the STEM Grant recipients for his or her progressive work in increasing the studying past the classroom,” stated Catherine Dunlop, Senior Vice President of Company Partnerships at Discovery Training. “Along with NEEF, we’re excited to help these transformative initiatives and watch them come to life.”
For extra details about Discovery Training’s award-winning digital sources {and professional} studying options, go to www.discoveryeducation.com, and keep linked with Discovery Training on social media by way of LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, and Fb.
To entry Environmental Training Initiative sources, go to environmentaleducationinitiative.discoveryeducation.com. Customers of Discovery Training Expertise can discover these sources on the Environmental Training Initiative channel.
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About NEEF
The Nationwide Environmental Training Basis (NEEF) is the nation’s main group in lifelong environmental studying, creating alternatives for individuals to expertise and study in regards to the atmosphere in ways in which enhance their lives and the well being of the planet. Congressionally chartered in 1990, NEEF is a non-partisan, non-advocacy group working to make the atmosphere extra accessible, related, and linked to individuals’s day by day lives.
Be taught extra at NEEFusa.org—or observe NEEF on Fb (Fb.com/NEEFusa) and on Twitter at @NEEFusa.
About Discovery Training
Discovery Training is the worldwide edtech chief whose state-of-the-art, PreK-12, digital options assist educators have interaction all college students and help increased educational achievement. By way of award-winning multimedia content material, educational helps, and progressive classroom instruments which are efficient, participating, and simple to make use of, Discovery Training helps educators ship highly effective studying experiences. Discovery Training serves roughly 4.5 million educators and 45 million college students worldwide, and its sources are accessed in over 100 international locations and territories. By way of partnerships with districts, states, and trusted organizations, Discovery Training empowers academics with important edtech options that encourage curiosity, construct confidence, and speed up studying. Be taught extra at www.discoveryeducation.com.
Contacts
Amy Skalmusky
Nationwide Environmental Training Basis
E-mail: askalmusky@neefusa.org
Grace Maliska
Discovery Training
E-mail: gmaliska@discoveryed.com
