Lowe’s has made a $1.5 million commitment to SkillsUSA.
The SkillsUSA Foundation will use the funds to help students and their technical skill instructors through several grant programs for SkillsUSA chapters and state associations. Local school grants will support local community service projects as well as state-level TeamWorks competitions.
This year’s school grants include:
Dothan Technology Center, Dothan, Ala. — $24,810: Students will build a pole barn pavilion to use for meetings, community events and as a break area for students.
Norwalk High School, Norwalk, Calif. — $24,600: Students will upgrade their culinary classroom with more equipment and food prep space. This will allow them to increase food production, serve more people at events and begin a mentoring program for middle-school students.
Immokalee Technical College, Immokalee, Fla. — $25,000: Students will complete kitchen rehabilitation and build a computer lab for a senior center.
Iroquois High School, Louisville, Ky. — $25,000: Students will complete the second phase of an outdoor amphitheater project by adding a stage, walking path, roof, sign and enhanced landscaping.
Martin County Career and Technology Center, Inez, Ky. — $25,000: Students will construct two gazebos at the high school and technology center.
Riverland Community College, Austin, Minn. — $22,260: Students will collaborate with their local Lowe’s Heroes program to design and build handicap ramps for area homeowners in need.
Rocky Mount High, Rocky Mount, N.C. —$25,000: Students will construct a three-story training building for their fire academy, which will allow for a variety of training programs.
Centennial High School, Gresham, Ore. — $10,000: Centennial students previously founded a nonprofit mobile food pantry. This project will upgrade the bus with lights and refrigeration units to further assist struggling families in the community to help meet basic needs.
Pioneer Career Center, Shelby, Ohio — $13,000: Students will carry out a community improvement blitz including building wheelchair accessible ramps; painting and restoring park buildings; updating baseball fields; cleaning police and fire stations; cleaning and repairing toys for needy children; preparing community garden plots; renovating food pantries and organizing donated items; and preparing and planting flower beds.
Upper Valley Career Center, Piqua, Ohio — $25,000: Students will rehabilitate an old church building to create a supervised center for community Wi-Fi access and tutoring.
Sun Area Technical Institute, New Berlin, Pa. — $12,306: Students will replace the school’s current florescent lighting with more efficient LED lighting.
West Side Career and Technology Center, Kingston, Pa. — $5,595: Students will renovate the existing culinary classroom to include a restaurant where they will prepare and serve meals to faculty, students and customers from the community.
Tennessee College of Applied Technology, Crump, Tenn. — $11,243: Students will construct a food storage building at Michie Elementary School for their backpack program. The project includes installing electricity, HVAC, shelving and a refrigerator.
Tennessee College of Applied Technology, Crossville, Tenn. — $17,639: Students will create a community garden to provide fresh vegetables to over 300 elementary students and five nursing homes.
Roane-Jackson Technical Center, Leroy, W.Va. — $25,000: Students will improve a playground at the Cedar Lakes Conference Center and make it both safer and compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
