Hitchcock Center for the Environment

Federal grant cuts will end WMass hands-on science program for third-graders

April 14, 2025, Updated April 15, 2025

This article was originally published in Mass Live.

SPRINGFIELD – The federal government has slashed a grant that provided hands-on science and engineering lessons for Springfield children, ending a learning opportunity for an estimated 1,000 third-graders.

Officials at the Hitchcock Center for the Environment in Amherst learned last week that two of its federal grants totaling roughly $500,000 have been cut.

One from the Institute of Museum and Library Services paid for its Schools Exploring Engineering Design and Sustainability in Springfield Public Schools, said Kim Snyder, director of development and communications for the center.

“It is a fabulous program and we were accumulating a lot of data on it,” she said.“ Kids were seeing themselves as engineers and learning to work together.”

The Hitchcock Center also lost another even larger Environmental Protection Agency grant that has $383,000 remaining of the grant that totaled $500,000. The money was funding work to improve air quality issues in rural communities.

Springfield program

The grant is designed to run programs in Springfield schools for children in a high-poverty district. City science teachers and center educators worked together and decided the program would best serve third-graders, Snyder said.

Share this page with friends!

Comments are closed.

Click here to return to full list of news entries.

Recent posts

Archives

Translate »