Education Foundation gets $3M grant

MOBILE, Ala. - Alabama Congressman Jo Bonner was in Mobile Monday to present the Mobile Area Education Foundation with a $3.6 million check for a program called Engaging Youth in Engineering, or EYE.

The purpose of the EYE program is to get more students involved in various areas of engineering.

The EYE program works on the premise that children are born engineers, because they are fascinated with building, taking things apart, and figuring out how they work.

The goal of the program is to use engineering as the hook to motivate students to study and take more math and science.

The grant is designed for sixth, seventh, and eighth graders. The presentation took place Monday at Burns Middle School.

The Mobile Area Education Foundation is a county-wide partnership of citizens, businesses, the Mobile County Public School System and public agencies.

FOX10 News talked with Congressman Jo Bonner, School Superintendent Dr. Roy Nichols, Bob Foley, the Assistant Dean of USA College of Engineering, and School Board President Ken Megginson. Each shared their views on the importance of the EYE program for the school system, the state, and even the country.