McPherson Magnet Awarded Hearst Family Foundation Grant to Support Comprehensive STEM Curriculum

Orange, CA – June 9, 2017 – Orange Unified is proud to announce that McPherson Magnet has earned a grant from the Hearst Family Foundation in the amount of $1,200. The grant is intended to provide professional development from Project Lead the Way (PLTW) STEM curriculum in the area of Medical Detectives.

McPherson’s PLTW STEM Program opened this year with the development of a PLTW STEM lab and hiring of STEM Resource Teacher Teresa Andrade and Career Technical Education Teacher Lauri Truong. Next year, Kayee Conrad, current science teacher at McPherson, will be teaching an 8th grade elective at McPherson.

“We wish to thank the Hearst Family Foundation for their generous donation and Kimberly Jones with Project Lead the Way for helping us secure this award,” stated Principal Joe Erven.

McPherson’s STEM Program will implement the modules across all grade levels next year:
Kinder (PLTW Launch): Pushes/Pulls, Structure & Function in Human Body and Animals & Algorithms.
1st (PLTW Launch): Light & Sound, Animal Adaptations, and Animated Storytelling
2nd (PLTW Launch): Grids & Games, Changing Earth, and Materials Science: Form and Function
3rd (PLTW Launch): Stability/Motion: Forces, Science of Flight and Variation of Traits
4th (PLTW Launch): Input/Output: Brain, Input/Output: Computer Science, and Energy: Collisions
5th (PLTW Launch): Robotic Automation, Robotics Challenge, and Infection Detection.
6th (PLTW Gateway): All 6th graders will take a year-long STEM elective with Design & Modeling and Automation & Robotics
7th (PLTW Gateway): All 7th graders will take a year-long STEM elective with App Creators and Computer Science for Innovators and Makers
8th (PLTW Gateway): 8th graders can elect to take a year-long course in Green Architecture, Medical Detectives and Flight & Space

More information about McPherson Magnet School’s various programs is available on their website at mcphersonhome.meteormail.net/mcpherson-home.