McAuliffe Center awarded $95,000 grant

Dylan Pichnarcik / THE GATEPOST

By Dylan Pichnarcik News Editor The Christa McAuliffe Center has been awarded a $95,000 grant through The Community Foundation for MetroWest. The grant will expand the “Perspectives on Earth - Team Mentorship and Internship” (PETM) which was established through the McAuliffe Center in 2019. The PETM includes a paid summer internship program for up to 12 high school students in the MetroWest area, according to Irene Porro, director of the McAuliffe Center. Porro said the PETM already receives some funding. However, the recent grant is a “major contribution” to supporting the program's future. PETM hosts up to 50 high school students from around MetroWest. Students come to the McAuliffe Center from January to April on select Saturdays to participate in five training sessions which expose them to the work they will complete if they intern with the McAuliffe Center, Porro said. She said the program teaches students about topics in STEM fields, as well as about working collaboratively with others in a professional environment. Students are also required to serve as presenters at the McAuliffe Center’s spring science festival, according to Porro. After completing the program's requirements, students can apply for a summer internship. Porro praised the quality of the work completed by past interns. She said in the summer of 2022, a group of interns worked to address urban heat islands on campus. A heat island is a large open area that is not covered by trees, and the heat generated in the areas can affect the local environment, according to Porro. She said the group suggested FSU build a solar canopy in the parking lot. Porro said at the end of the program she sent the report that the students produced to Dale Hamel, former executive vice president of Finance, Technology, and Administration. He said the project was already being discussed. This project was recently completed by the University. The grant given to the McAuliffe Center will go toward supporting a full-time program coordinator, according to Porro. Natalie Daly will continue her work as environmental and sustainability coordinator at the McAuliffe Center while also working to coordinate the internship program. “I feel good about it. It’s really interesting to work with kids in high school,” Daly said. She added, “It’s interesting how much background knowledge they have but also how much knowledge they don’t. There's very interesting gaps in what they know, what they don't know - from AP Environmental Science or from just their own lives - and then what they bring to us and what we can share back out to them.” Daly said in the future, she hopes to expand the program to offer more internships for students. Porro said having the ability to fund a position dedicated to supporting the PETM is a “game-changer.” Matthew Jose, senior program officer for action projects at The Community Foundation for MetroWest, said the foundation is a 30-year-old community foundation that primarily provides support to the non-profit sector. He said the organization has tackled issues such as human services, hunger relief, arts and culture, and the environment. The foundation partners with local corporations to fund and support its work in providing equity in education. The primary funder for its equity initiatives is MathWorks, a company based in Natick, Jose said. He said, “One of the attractive parts of the program is that Irene [Porro] and her team’s outreach focuses on equity and providing accessible programming and paired programming to students from across MetroWest who need to work during the summer.” He added, “Keeping an internship paid over the summer allowed equity to be at the forefront of this kind of program, which is really one of the roots of what we’re trying to do.” President Nancy Niemi said, “We’re very lucky. I think it's great that we’ve gotten it. One could easily say, ‘You know, it’s a great facility already. So, why more?’ … I just think it helps us really enhance our work and our service for the community.” Porro said she thinks there's a direct connection between McAuliffe’s work and the center’s work. “We are doing it - not necessarily going to space ourselves, but bringing that experience … back here,” she said. Freshman Aubrey Waterman said offering summer internships to high school students is valuable for anyone interested in space. Freshman Hailey Ring said the McAuliffe Center offering internships is “a great opportunity.” She said she would have been interested in taking part in the internship in high school. Cesár Matos, a junior and program facilitator at the McAuliffe Center, said, “I feel like it's a phenomenal program.” Matos said working with high school students and “generally getting them involved in civil service is a passion of mine, and getting them to do it with the aim of green initiatives is an even better thing. “Last year, I got to work with students who motivated me as much as I motivated them. “Ultimately, it's the most satisfying job that I've had so far. As Christa McAuliffe says, ‘I touch the future. I teach.’”