OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — The Shawnee Mission School District received a $100,000 private donation to support science, technology, engineering and math curriculum on Tuesday.
At Shawnee Mission West High School, students are learning lab skills as part of the district’s biotechnology signature program.
And already teachers here are drooling over the possibilities of updating their labs and buying new equipment to help prepare Shawnee Mission kids for what many call the good-paying careers of the future.
Seven years ago, the district recognized that employers needed lab technicians and workers with lab skills, so Shawnee Mission started its biotechnology signature program.
Now, thanks to a $100,000 gift which has been given to the Shawnee Mission Education Foundation by Craig Denny and his family, more independent science study is possible at the school.
Denny is a longtime Shawnee Mission school board member.
“I’d like to see something I’ve never seen before come out of this sort of program,” Denny said. “So I think the possibilities are endless.”
The Denny Family Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Fund will provide teachers the support they need to prepare students for STEM fields and allow for specialized research among individual students.
As part of the animal health corridor, the Kansas City metropolitan area is a hotbed of biotechnology for agribusiness. Teachers here say 60 percent of biotech workers only need a high school diploma to get jobs in the business.
Denny’s gift to the Shawnee Mission Education Foundation will be invested so that it can provide financial support to classrooms for generations to come.
