Lockheed Martin donates $1M to school
Lockheed Martin will donate $1 million to the Denver School of Science and Technology (DSST), the aerospace giant announced Thursday at the school.
Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) said the money will help pay for DSST’s Vision 2020 plan to add four schools, for grades 6-12 and based on the DSST model, in the Denver area by 2020.
“You are all pioneers, and we’re fortunate to be partners with you,” Joanne McGuire, executive vice president of Lockheed Martin Space Systems, which is in the Waterton Canyon area, told DSST students. “I’m pleased to announce Lockheed Martin will make a $1 million donation to DSST to support the ambitious expansion of your outstanding educational model.”
DSST, which is located in the Stapleton area, is an open-enrollment public school with 728 students and a heavy focus on STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) studies. It’s designed to serve a diverse student body: 45 percent of students are economically disadvantaged; 64 percent are Hispanic or black; and 41 percent of the class of 2009 are first-generation college students.
DSST said it will leverage the $1 million pledge to pursue a $5 million Investing in Innovation grant from the Department of Education, which is provided through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
McGuire also said Lockheed Martin Space Systems would make a five-year commitment of volunteer help from the company’s 4,300 Colorado-based employees. Half of them are engineers or scientists.
“Their support truly has been extraordinary,” said Bill Kurtz, CEO of DSST Public Schools. “There are several deep-seated beliefs that DSST and Lockheed Martin share:
• “All students should have the opportunity to go to college.
• “All students — regardless of skin color, race or family income — can become the future engineers, scientists and inventors that our country so desperately needs.
• “We have to reach out to students much earlier to create the next engineers, scientists and inventors.”
Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper told the students, “The experience of learning math and science will stay with you the rest of your lives.”
Denver Business Journal