HOPE – The Georgia-Pacific Co., through its GP Foundation, continued its support Monday for the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) program of the Hope Academy of Public Service with a $5,000 grant donation.\r\n
\r\n“We are excited to continue our partnership with Georgia Pacific through their donation to our technology department,” HAPS Principal Dr. Carol Ann Duke said.\r\n
\r\nThe grades 5-9 HAPS campus supports both an innovation laboratory and a new EAST initiative laboratory. GP funded a $5,000 grant in 2016-2017 for the innovation lab’s purchase of a 3D printer, which will allow students to build prototype parts for specific projects and to model concepts, such as the human heart, in three dimensions.\r\n
\r\n“Their generosity will allow our students to participate in robotics, coding and project-based learning at the local and state level; perhaps, in some national competitions before the school year ends,” Duke said. “Our students are so appreciative of the support and commitment GP has made to the HAPS classrooms and laboratories.”\r\n
\r\nGP-Hope Charitable Contribution Coordinator Andrea Hale, and GP-Hope Finishing Superintendent Mark Haywood, a 22-year Hope unit employee, made the Monday presentation to Duke, Hope Public Schools Board member Kathryn Dickinson and HAPS Leadership Council officers Jaxson Adams (eighth grade), Richard Ware (eighth grade) and Katie Arroyo (sixth grade).\r\n
\r\n“We are extremely fortunate to have a community partner such as Georgia Pacific,” Bobby Hart, HPS superintendent, said. “They are concerned about our community, our schools and our students. On behalf of the entire district, I want to say ‘thanks’ for all you do for Hope Public Schools.”\r\n
\r\nThe GP Foundation, established in 1958, awards monetary grants in four primary areas, including education, environment, enrichment and entrepreneurship, Hale said.\r\n
\r\n“The foundation funds and supports community-based programs, volunteer service projects, disaster relief and other initiatives to improve the quality of life in communities where Georgia-Pacific operates,” the GP Foundation website explains. “We use established criteria to evaluate the many proposals we receive.”\r\n
\r\nGrants are awarded based upon an applications process. Three general criteria are included in grant consideration: Location of the recipient in proximity to a GP facility; program support of one or more of the core GP Foundation initiatives; and creation of tangible value and measurable return in community investment.\r\n
\r\nCore initiatives in education include STEM, robotics, literacy and general support of K-12 public schools; entrepreneurship education in public high schools; and scholarships at the collegiate level.\r\n
\r\nHAPS is in the second year of development and implementation of its public service curriculum under the direction of a graduate student team from the University of Arkansas William J. Clinton School of Public Service in Little Rock.\r\n
