Dunham Fund will provide $192,000 in startup funding for a new environmental classroom to complement a STEM integration plan designed to benefit elementary students of St. Paul Lutheran Church in Aurora, Illinois and St. Luke’s Lutheran School in Montgomery, Illinois, and youth who attend the Aurora Youth Service Programs.
St Paul’s will build an outside class room, with a weather sail, roof weather station and worm composting (vermiculture). With its new STEM curriculum, St. Paul’s will be a flagship Lutheran K-8 school in Illinois and in the Dunham Fund service area. St. Paul Lutheran Church and School is an accredited educational institution serving 165 Students each school year, 95% of whom reside in the Dunham service area. Support from the Dunham Fund will also assist an additional 100+ students through the school’s established partnerships.
To serve the surrounding community, St Paul’s will offer a STEM club after school one night a week, a STEM night for approximately 100 students, families, and community members to learn more about STEM opportunities, and will integrate technology and science into its summer camp program that serves about 200 area youth.