Thanks to the General Motors Bowling Green Assembly plant, six local nonprofit organizations now have more money to invest in projects that promote STEM education.

Kai Spande, plant manager of the facility that assembles Chevrolet Corvettes, presented checks totaling $75,000 Thursday at the plant to the six nonprofits and will also present a check to the Kentucky Governor’s Scholars Program.

“I’m very happy to be able to give back to the community,” Spande said.

The grants, part of the GM Community Impact Grants program, ranged from $10,000 to $15,000 apiece and will support a variety of projects related to STEM, which stands for science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

The Warren County Area Technology Center in the Kentucky Transpark, for example, will use the money to purchase specialized equipment for its Early College Academy for Robotics and Automation Engineering and the Early College Academy for Machine Tool programs.

ATC Principal Eric Keeling said the grant will allow him to serve about 80 high school students.

“The students will earn one year of college credit,” Keeling said. “In addition, they will have internships with local business partners. It will open up multiple career pathways to them.”

A project called Streamside Field Days, which is a partnership between Operation PRIDE, the city of Bowling Green and Warren County government, will serve a younger group of students.

Matt Powell, environmental manager for the city of Bowling Green, said the field days project targets sixth-graders who will learn about the life cycle of a stream and do projects involving chemistry and environmental science.

“The main goal is that students will have an understanding of their impact on local streams,” Powell said. “The city and county have been funding it. This (grant) will defray some of the cost of it so we can continue the program.”

A grant awarded to the Boys and Girls Club of Bowling Green will concentrate on middle school and high school students who will learn about business and agriculture through working with the club’s garden program.

“The project allows students to take the garden from seed planting to selling the produce,” Boys and Girls Club CEO Pam McIntyre said.

Other projects receiving funding from the GM plant are:

• A United Way of Southern Kentucky program that will help prepare children for kindergarten.
• A Lost River Cave project that will take STEM out of the classroom and connect it to the real world by bringing students to the cave to learn about its ecosystem.
• Junior Achievement’s “The JA Solution for Success” program that allows at-risk middle school students to learn about the importance of STEM careers and how to prepare for such careers.

According to a news release, GM’s Community Impact Grants program will provide nearly $2 million in funding to hundreds of organizations in 47 communities.