TAUNTON — Superintendent-Director Alexandre Magalhaes and Program Administrator Glenn Lopes are pleased to announce that Bristol-Plymouth Regional Technical School has been awarded a competitive grant through the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center’s STEM Equipment and Professional Development Grant program.
The awards, announced by the Baker-Polito Administration last week, will provide funds to schools to help prepare students for life sciences careers through the purchasing of lab equipment, materials, supplies and technology, as well as provide professional development for teachers that support implementation of advanced curricula and standards alignment.
Bristol-Plymouth was awarded $95,683.04 through the grant.
B-P’s biotechnology program plans to use the funds from the grant to implement the Biotechnician Assistant Credentialing Exam (BACE) certification into the program. The BACE certification is an industry-recognized exam designed to assess core skills and knowledge sets and represented within the academic and performance standards of biotechnology programs. Since its creation, BACE has been assessed by national and international companies as other states adopt the exam.
Items provided in this grant will supply students with sufficient tools to work independently and develop their skills to the level needed for success in the BACE certification. The grant will allow the Biotechnology program to create individual workstations for each student to increase hands-on time with the tools and develop skills to the level necessary for BACE certification and create immediately employable students.
“We place a great emphasis at Bristol-Plymouth on preparing our students for the highly competitive world they will enter upon graduation, and this grant will allow us to do just that for our biotechnology students,” Superintendent Magalhaes said. “We know how competitive these types of grants can be, and we thank the Baker-Polito Administration and the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center for their continued support.”
Since 2012, the MLSC has awarded $21.5 million to more than 240 high schools and middle schools throughout Massachusetts. This includes more than $20 million in funding for equipment and supplies and nearly $1.2 million for teacher professional development. These awards have leveraged nearly $3 million in cash and in-kind matching funds from industry and non-profit partners.
MLSC STEM equipment and professional development funding has served schools in 13 out of 14 Massachusetts counties and all 26 Gateway Cities, including all 39 vocational-technical high schools with a life sciences program.
“Our administration is committed to supporting the next generation of the life sciences workforce by engaging Massachusetts students in hands-on learning in essential STEM curricula,” said Lt. Governor Karyn Polito. “With partners like the Life Sciences Center, we are continuing to expand opportunities for students to be exposed early and often to STEM, supporting their development now as learners and as future members of our thriving life sciences workforce.”
For more information on the MLSC STEM Equipment and Professional Development Grant Program, click here.
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