Project Director First Name: Brigette

Project Director Last Name: Southern

Project Director Email: Brigette08@gmail.com
Project Director Phone: 678-988-6747
Title: Media Specialist
Institution: Tussahaw Elementary School
Address Line: 225 Coan Dr
City: McDonough
State: Georgia
Zip Code: 30252-7641

Applicant Library Information

Institution Type: Elementary School
Community Type: Rural
Population Size: 565 students
Closest Metropolitan Area and State: Atlanta, GA
Please tell us about any underserved groups in your area that will be
engaged with your NASA My library activities.
Tussahaw Elementary consists of many students with a low socio-
economic status. 65% of the students qualify for free or reduced
lunch. 27.7% of the students passed all subjects of the Georgia
Milestones Assessment. 26% of the grades tested passed the
Georgia Milestones Science portion and 25% of the students
tested passed the Georgia Milestones Science Portion. This is
much lower than the state and county averages. There is a clear
need for some academic extensions. STEM learning opportunities
would greatly help in this needed area. The science-focused
learning experiences will enhance science instruction at
Tussahaw Elementary School.
Shipping Address:
Address: 225 Coan Drive
City: McDonough
State: Georgia
ZIP code: 30252-7641

Proposal Narrative
Please write a narrative describing your plans for participating in NASA
My Library. The proposal narrative consists of six questions (described
immediately below). Please note that each section of the narrative may
not exceed 400 words.

Describe why your library would like to participate in this project,

including community interests in NASA discoveries, demographics,
collections, or other resources or programming focuses pertinent to the
project. What are your prior experiences with offering public programs
about STEM topics?
Our school has a demographic of mostly African-American students of
low socio-economic status. There are not many STEM-related
experiences that students get to experience outside of the school
building. Tussahaw Elementary already offers STEM classes once per
week for each class in the building. The STEM class teacher provides
hands-on STEM experiences for the students.

What do you hope to accomplish bringing this project to your

community?
While students understand STEM, the NASA program offers a real-
world, career-related experience for students. The backpacks s to be
put into circulation gives students an opportunity to experience STEM
outside of the school setting. The facilitation kits will prevent the STEM
class from being the only place that students take part in STEM
experiences. This program would allow the media specialist to be
another support for the classroom and STEM class teachers. Teaching
STEM in a library setting not only changes the perspective of STEM on
students but also change the view of the library. Students do not
associate the library with Science and this could change the outlook on
the library as well. These experiences being provided for our students
could completely change their perspective on several things and open
their minds to new possibilities.

Identify at least one principal underserved audience you will reach with
programming for NASA My Library and make a strong case for why you
have chosen this audience and how you will reach them. A generally
underserved geographic area can be considered an underrepresented
audience.
The underserved audience to be reached with the programming for
NASA My Library would be the 74% of students that did not pass the
Science portion of the Georgia Milestones assessment. We could also
use teacher recommendation for those students. Our school provides
support in the areas of math and reading. Students have after school
services, summer school services, and services provided during the
school day. Science is a whole subject that is completely underserved.
There is no extra support for students who do not do well in this area.
There is not much time during the school day allotted for teaching
science. This program could be supplement for instruction for those
students who struggle or need help in the area of Science.

Describe how you will promote a STEM program if you are selected to
be a part of NASA My Library. For example, which groups will you target
with outreach, and how? How will you use social media? How will you
work with community partners on audience recruitment? Who in your
library will be responsible for promoting the programs? Please focus
your answers on STEM programs, rather than library programs in
general. You may also upload STEM marketing/promotional materials in
the Uploads section ahead (optional).
Promoting STEM is something that most schools fail to do. Our school is
already promoting STEM by employing a teacher strictly for STEM and
science lab. We also have a STEM night once per year where parents
come to participate in STEM activities. This is one of our most popular
parent nights, which shows that STEM and hands-on activities generate
interest. We could extend our outreach to parents by offering more
STEM nights. We would also promote the resources offered in library
and have parents come to the library to participate in STEM activities
so that they can see what the NASA program has to offer. The schools
Facebook page would be used to promote the programs and events
offered. The library media specialist will be responsible for promoting
this program.

Collaboration with STEM organizations and individuals with STEM

expertise is very important to the success of this project. Please see
the application guidelines for a list of Subject Matter Expert Networks
and tell us what partnership(s) you would seek to help you make your
program a success. Have you worked with any of these
organizations/individuals before, or have you worked with similar
organizations/individuals?

I would work in collaboration with the NASA Speakers bureau to

request a presentation on one of the areas that they offer. This would
get students excited about the program. We could also work in
collaboration with the Flint River Astronomy Club in Griffin, GA to work
with the students and get students excited about the program.

Describe three (or more) programs you plan to host during the first
year of the award (May 2017-April 2018), including one high-profile
event, to meet or exceed the project requirements. Letters of support
from external presenters may be attached to the Upload page.
More information would need to be researched and trainings would
need to be attended in order to sufficiently plan programs to be
hosted. One-high profile even would involve community involvement
with parents, students, and community members in association with a
NASA partner to get parents involved and educated about the
program.