Arbor Station Elementary School is proud to have received a Google Community Grant of $17,100 from the Google Inc. Charitable Giving Fund at Tides Foundation.

As part of the school’s efforts to open a new science, technology, engineering and mathematics lab for the 2017-18 school year, the Google Community Grant will provide additional technology to outfit the lab.

"We are excited about the opportunity that this grant affords our students at the elementary school level,” said Thomas Bruno, Assistant Principal of Arbor Station Elementary School. “This support from Google will allow our students to engage in hands-on STEM coursework and extracurricular activities that enhance student learning."

The Douglas County School System has provided its schools resources to pursue STEM certification from the state of Georgia. Arbor Station will hire a full-time teacher to instruct students in STEM classes next year. Grant funds will be used to acquire 30 tablets for the new STEM lab. All students in grades K-5 will visit the lab weekly for STEM courses.

Arbor Station has already earned a STEM grant from Project Lead the Way, a national nonprofit that develops STEM curricula for use by K-12 schools. The school is now forming a board of community members to help plan the new lab, implement STEM curricula and pursue funding for additional technology.

"We’re proud to be working with the teachers and students at Arbor Station and the Douglas County School System to promote STEM education and certification and consider these efforts an extension of our support for the community we’re proud to call home,” said Lilyn Hester, head of Southeast Public Affairs for Google.

The Google Community Grants Program supports Douglas County organizations and initiatives that focus on four issues that the company is passionate about:

- Technology literacy and innovation

- Renewable energy innovation

- Access to high speed Internet

- New economy entrepreneurship

Grants are awarded quarterly and grant awards range from $5,000 to $50,000. Award size depends on several factors, including available resources, the award’s impact on achieving the mission and the level of community support. Since 2011, Google has awarded more than $8.4 million in charitable giving dollars to nonprofit organizations and schools in the state of Georgia.

The Google Community Grant comes from the Google Inc. Charitable Giving Fund at Tides Foundation, which offers donor-advised funds and other grantmaking vehicles as well as professional philanthropic advice.