Fairborn Middle School awarded $10,000 Project Lead The Way grant for biomedical pathway

Fairborn City Schools recognized a $10,000 Project Lead The Way grant on Feb. 6 that will help the district develop a biomedical pathway from middle school to high school.

District presenters said the grant will support a “medical detectives” course offered to seventh- and eighth-graders at Fairborn Middle School and that the course has been approved as a career-tech education pathway. The district said the middle-school course will connect to high-school biomedical courses to create a fully articulated pathway for students.

Bev Stambaugh, Carrie Bell and Stephanie Reynolds were acknowledged for preparing the grant application. In a classroom description presented to the board, Bell said students learn to collect and analyze vital signs — including temperature, heart rate, blood pressure and respiration — and use that data to study patient symptoms and diagnoses. Bell said students also study infectious disease and nervous-system structure; she noted that students at one point perform a dissection as part of the curriculum.

The presenters said the grant will supply program materials and strengthen the pathway so eighth-graders can see the high-school opportunities that follow. Board members and staff thanked the teachers for their work on the grant application and for expanding career-focused coursework.

No vote was required to recognize the grant; staff described it as an example of “teamwork to create opportunities for students.”