AIU hosts STEAM Showcase: 28 school district participate

The Allegheny Intermediate Unit’s (AIU) Center for Creativity held its third annual STEAM Showcase Open House on Sept. 27, at the IBEW Circuit Center & Ballroom. Students and teachers from 28 school districts demonstrated how they are transforming education using STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics) grants. Local innovators from Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) CREATE Lab, CMU Personal Robotics Lab, BirdBrain Technologies, Maker Faire Pittsburgh, Stem Jobs Magazine, TechShop Pittsburgh, Digital Dream Labs, SLB Radio Productions, Schell Games EverFi, The Sprout Fund, Sevenzo, John Heinz History Center, Green Building Alliance and Common Sense Education also attended. Each school district represented was a winner of a $20,000 STEAM grant, made possible by the Chevron, the Claude Worthington Benedum and the Grable foundations. Since 2009, the foundations and the AIU have awarded more than $3 million in STEAM grants to school districts in southwestern Pennsylvania.