On Tuesday, Aug. 30, students, teachers and staff at Atlanta Public Schools’ Tuskegee Airmen Global Academy gathered to celebrate the announcement of the school's new partnership with Morehouse School of Medicine. Thanks to the partnership and a $150,000 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, TAG Academy will receive technology equipment to support its STEM-focused curriculum, along with mentoring support for students and the implementation of a parenting program.

During the ceremony which featured remarks from APS Superintendent Dr. Meria J. Carstarphen and 94-year-old Tuskegee Airman Hillard Warren Pouncy Jr., Morehouse School of Medicine President Dr. Valerie Montgomery Rice said the partnership will help benefit all students at TAG Academy. "We are doing this for you," said Rice. "We are educating and training the future health professionals of the world, and we want you to reach your fullest potential and become the best you can be."

Following the ceremony, Dr. Rice and her guests showered students with gift bags and t-shirts, and later visited TAG Academy's aerospace and zSpace STEM labs, which create real-world, virtual reality systems. Featuring state-of-the art Vizitech monitors and 3-D printers, zSpace labs allow students to engage and interact with simulated objects in virtual environments as if they are real.