Bosch Rexroth donates $20,000 to promote STEM education

CENTER VALLEY, Pa. — Representatives from Bosch Rexroth visited the Lehigh Valley campus on Monday, Dec. 14, to learn about how a previous grant was utilized and to present another $20,000 to Penn State Lehigh Valley's Department of Corporate and Community Education for the promotion of STEM education.The first set of funding was used to reconfigure academic summer curriculum that was previously more writing and arts focused, to invest in Lego robotics for the STEM related camps and to assist in marketing efforts so more children could benefit from the camp offerings.During the visit, Andreas Torell, vice president and commercial plant manager, and Richard Cory, human resources manager, both from Bosch, heard from Nancy Coco, director of corporate and community education at Penn State Lehigh Valley and Doug Antonioli, assistant director of the Penn State Lehigh Valley Writing Project about how the first donation enhanced the Penn State Lehigh Valley Summer Youth Camps and truly impacted the experience for the children who attended and their families."It was our most successful year to date and Bosch played a big part in that by helping us incorporate STEM into the curriculum in an interesting way for all ages," said Coco. "Feedback from parents was tremendously positive. They shared how their children continued their learning at home with their families after attending camp. The Lego robotics took the camps to another level."Beyond the campers this summer, so many others are benefiting from this investment. Howard Scholz, instructor in physics and engineering at Penn State Lehigh Valley, has been incorporating the Lego robotics into his classes for college students. By utilizing the donation in multiple ways throughout the year, more students get to benefit and learn from this technology."With support from Bosch, we are bringing our talents together to instill positive change in the STEM education of students in the Lehigh Valley from first graders to college seniors," said Tina Q. Richardson, chancellor at Penn State Lehigh Valley. "We appreciate their being one of our key partners in this endeavor and we look forward to continuing this important work with the additional grant funding."Bosch Rexroth supports mechanical and plant engineering efforts around the world with its cutting-edge technology and unique industry knowledge, according to its company website.