Dallas Arboretum Receives Large Donation For STEM Education
International Paper Company has donated $50,000 to the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Gardens to be the presenting sponsor of its STEM Education program.
The donation will provide additional opportunities to teach STEM to students, to fund grants for Title 1 schools to bring their students to the garden, and to equip educators in the latest STEM teaching practices.
“In addition to being a top display garden where we grow plants through our experiential educational field trips, outreach programs and professional development for teachers, we grow minds, too,” said Allyson Marbut, Dallas Arboretum’s vice president of education. “Thanks to this grant, we’ll be able to fund these STEM education initiatives.”
The Dallas Arboretum’s education programs focus on outdoor STEM, empowering children to apply science concepts aligned with the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) for K-6 curriculum to the outdoor world. The Arboretum Education team utilizes 150 interactive, science-driven lessons that immerse more than 100,000 North Texas students, with a focus from kindergarten to 6th grade, in invigorating scientific inquiry each year.
The Dallas Arboretum’s most elaborate educational resource is the Rory Meyers Children’s Adventure Garden (RMCAG), an 8-acre outdoor science museum full of interactive science-based displays, laboratories, and specialized outdoor learning galleries.
Since its ribbon-cutting in 2013, RMCAG has hosted more than 1.7 million visits from children and families, students on field trips, summer camp participants, and curious adults.
