NICKERSON, Kan. — The Nickerson USD 309 School District has received a $25,000 grant from the America’s Farmers Grow Rural Education to help fund STEM education in the district.

The grant, which is sponsored by the Bayer Fund, partnered with local farmers to nominate rural schools and awarded more than $2.3 million in grants to enhance their science, technology, engineering, and math.

USD 309 is one of the many schools across the country that has benefited from the Grow Rural Education program. For each grant-winning school, teachers, students, and oftentimes, community members, develop plans to create more engaging and innovative STEM programs.

The district will use the Grow Rural Education funds to provide after-school and summer STEM activities for students that include expanding the coding and robotics programs with adding underwater robotics to its current resources.

To qualify for a Grow Rural Education grant, farmers nominated a school or school district to compete for a merit-based grant of either $10,000 or $25,000. School districts that were nominated then submitted a grant application describing their STEM-focused project.

Since Grow Rural Education began in 2011, it has awarded more than $18 million to more than 1,000 schools in rural communities across the United States.