3.14 Going Forward Fund: Full STEAM Ahead!

More than $110,000 has been awarded to Fayette County public middle and high school STEM-related projects benefitting girls and minority students, thanks to an anonymous donor who established the 3.14 Going Forward Fund at BGCF in 2018.

With COVID-19 disrupting the 2019-20 school year, the original plans that Gary DeBorde, a teacher at Lexington’s STEAM Academy, had for his grant award changed due to canceled events and conferences. But his students bounced back in 2021 ready to take on the competition!

Thanks to the grant funding of the 3.14 Going Forward Fund, STEAM Academy’s STEAM GIRLS club wrote and illustrated a children’s pop-up book about non-renewable energy and were able to enter the book into the statewide 2021 Technology Student Association Conference and Competition — and they won first place! The girls will present their book at the national Technology Student Association Conference in June.

One of the STEAM GIRLS club members was also elected secretary of the Kentucky Technology Student Association. “She’ll be representing TSA students across the entire state, and this would have never happened had she not had the financial opportunity to do so,” said DeBorde.