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Youngstown Rayen Early College High School receives $20K grant for STEAM programs

By Mahoning Matters staff
The Maker Space at Youngstown Rayen Early College High School is an area for students and teachers to create and design projects.
The Maker Space at Youngstown Rayen Early College High School is an area for students and teachers to create and design projects. (Photo provided)

Youngstown Rayen Early College High School has been awarded a $20,000 grant to expand its Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics programs for the 2022-23 school year, the Youngstown City School District announced Wednesday.

The grant was awarded by the Howmet Aerospace Foundation, which “invests in STEM and technical education and workforce development initiatives, with an emphasis on increased access to STEM fields for underrepresented individuals,” according to its website. The foundation is the charitable arm of Howmet Aerospace.

The school will use the grant to purchase equipment and supplies for science classes and the school’s Maker Space, an area for students and teachers to create and design projects, a news release states. The school will purchase items such as a CNC mill, laser, 3-D printers, hand power tools, a T-shirt press, microscopes and laboratory glassware, the release states.

“YREC is beyond thankful for the Howmet Aerospace Foundation’s support and the doors they will help open for our scholars,” YREC science teacher Mark Robinson said in the release.

The school previously received Howmet Aerospace Foundation grants of $30,000 in June 2020, $30,000 in September 2021 and $20,000 in April 2022.