STEAM Academy, a ministry of River City Church, is honored to be the recipient of grants from the Indiana Office of Early Childhood and Out-of-School Learning and Early Learning Indiana to support the expansion and student enrichment of STEAM Academy. The public is invited to join a short ceremony on Thursday, February 7 at 1:00 PM at STEAM Academy, located at 2850 Old US HWY 231 S., Lafayette. 

STEAM Academy is an innovative, early-childhood learning center that employs inquiry-based hands-on learning and encourages children ages six weeks through pre-kindergarten. STEAM Academy began in August 2017 with a desire to serve Tippecanoe county families with a different kind of childcare and preschool option. Due to the over-whelming demand from the community, STEAM Academy is in the middle of an expansion project. We are building eleven new classrooms equipped with webcams for parents, a multi-level indoor playground, and a resource room for teachers housed in a state-of-the-art facility. In February 2019 we will begin pre-enrollment for all fall programs and begin hiring staff. 

STEAM Academy would like to thank the Indiana Office of Early Childhood and Out-of-School Learning who awarded STEAM Academy an early education capacity-building grant in the amount of $114,439.43 and Early Learning Indiana for awarding $100,000 for the construction of two new classrooms. 

STEAM Academy is honored to be one of twelve grant awardees representing 29 pre-kindergarten programs across Indiana to receive funds from the Early Childhood Education Capacity Building Grant. The grants total more than $1.4 million and were awarded to early learning providers and county coalitions to help them serve more pre-k children and increase the quality of early education opportunities provided throughout Indiana. 

These funds provide STEAM Academy the opportunity to: 

1. Enhance the quality of our program by providing teachers additional training. 

2. Achieve Paths to Quality Level 3 in 2019. 

3. Participate in On My Way Pre-K in 2019. 

4. Increase the capacity of the 4-year-old program by 40 additional seats. 

Instrumental to receiving these funds was community support from several Tippecanoe County organizations, including The United Way, Mayor Tony Roswarski, and Dr. Scott Hanback for letters of support and several anonymous donors for matching funds. STEAM Academy would like to thank all that contributed to the success of this grant. 

Robby Bradford, lead pastor at River City Church and the president of STEAM Academy, had this to say, “We are thrilled to see the ongoing development of STEAM and the way that so many in our community are working together to benefit children and their families.”

If you would like more information about this celebration or the River City Community Center development, please contact Lori Bolt at 765-414-9523 or email at bolt@mysteamacademy.com.