Students in Bedford, Blair, Cambria, and Somerset Counties now have access to new STEM learning tools.

UPMC and the Pittsburgh Penguins Foundation teamed up to help fill the STEM Lending Center of Appalachia Intermediate Unit Eight, or AIU8, with high-tech educational devices to help teach them about stem. 

The Lending Center allows local teachers to bring the state of the art devices into their classrooms.

“So now you’re taking the less affluent schools or those schools that really can’t afford it in their budget, giving them the opportunity to be on a level playing field on STEM education,” said Dave Soltesz, President of the Penguins Foundation.

“This is so important because of, to come up with the critical thinking skills that are so important, working collaboratively with people that’s just so important and these STEM activities are perfect for that,”  AIU8 Executive Director Tom Butler said. 

AIU8 says so far this year, they’ve had 4,500 students engaged in the STEM center. It is one of 29 Intermediate Units throughout Pennsylvania, which were created in 1971 to provide services to school districts in way that create economies of scale, cost savings, and better efficiencies in the delivery of programs and services to children, especially those in need.