Students at Kathleen High School’s Central Florida Aerospace Academy will have the opportunity to learn and apply STEM skills beyond the classroom through an Innovation Generation grant from the Motorola Solutions Foundation, the charitable arm of Motorola Solutions Inc.

The Motorola Solutions Foundation provided $50,000 to challenge Florida’s district-wide local education foundations to inspire students through projects designed to help them solve real-world problems in science, math, technology and engineering areas this year through a grant to the Consortium of Florida Education Foundations.

The Polk Education Foundation’s project was one of 11 chosen to receive $4,750 through a competitive judging process where 20 proposed projects were reviewed and scored by a panel of STEM industry professionals through CFEF.

The students at the Central Florida Aerospace Academy of Kathleen High School will be conducting an experiment to compare the sediment core analyses of two naturally occurring lakes in the Lakeland area. In addition, students will use the data obtained via the core samples to create biogeochemical models
to describe the health of the lakes relating to the phosphorus and
nitrogen levels within each system.

Thanks to the establishment of a sister school, Nannenstad High School, in Oslo, Norway, the students will be collaborating with their peers to contrast their data with the data and models collected by the Norwegian students.

The two groups will be communicating via SKYPE technology and will create an international website to communicate the results of this study.

The overall goal is to afford the students an opportunity to explore civil and environmental engineering
and to raise awareness regarding Polk County’s water resources
as compared to those in other
countries.

“The future of American innovation depends on a diverse pipeline of critical thinkers who are well versed in STEM principles,” said Matt Blakely, director of the Motorola Solutions Foundation.

“Through the Innovation Generation program, we are thrilled to partner with programs like CFEF and their member education foundations in Florida to provide students and teachers with the necessary tools to explore their STEM interests and pursue innovation.”