$100K anonymous donation to benefit Montgomery Public Schools’ STEM programs

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WSFA) - Montgomery Public Schools is partnering with a local non-profit chapter to bring additional Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math, better known as STEM, programs to students thanks to an anonymous $100,000 donation!

The Montgomery chapter of AFCEA International said it was contacted by an Air Force veteran wanting to make an anonymous donation that would benefit underserved communities with STEM education. AFCEA, started in 1946, used to stand for the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association.

“What he did was he tasked us to go out and find different schools and opportunities that can reflect what he wanted to accomplish,” Eric Sloan, the Executive Director for Montgomery’s AFCEA chapter.

Montgomery Public Schools received the donation during a news conference on Wednesday. Leaders say the donation will help further the initiatives they have in place.

“In order to do STEM education, we have to provide our kids access to materials and programs and things of that nature,” MPS Superintendent Melvin Brown said. “Funds are always at a commodity, a commodity that’ll help us push that forward.”

While Sloan said the funds are being directed at programs such as robotics and technology, they hope to incorporate other learning avenues in the future with additional funding.

“We may come back and actually have some additional funds that we can do even though we were doing robotics and tech, he (the donor) also wanted to incorporate chemistry as well,” Sloan added.

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