Through ARA’s STEM Community Fund, fifth graders at Oscar Patterson Academy in Panama City, FL, are planting seasonal crops, monitoring greenhouse systems, mentoring younger students in harvesting, and building garden beds. This is hands-on, systems level STEM learning that no textbook can replicate.
The program recently advanced in rigor as student teams designed and built raised bed greenhouses from the ground up. Each group engineered its structure and collected controlled data on temperature, humidity, and plant health across growth cycles. Comparing results introduced experimental design, data collection, and evidence-based iteration, the core of real scientific and engineering practice.
The ARA SERVICE program was developed with ARA’s core value of service in mind. The program empowers ARA employee-owners to serve their communities by supporting STEM education and outreach initiatives and aims to inspire students to pursue STEM education, including through grants from the ARA STEM Community Fund.
