New IPS program aims to spark STEM interest in middle school

A five-year, $5.5 million grant from the Eli Lilly and Company Foundation will fund new science, technology, engineering and math programming at William Penn Middle School, starting later this school year.

The project, called Destination 2032, is designed to dramatically increase STEM engagement and career readiness among Indianapolis Public Schools students. The name reflects the year when current middle schoolers would graduate high school.

The district will build a “Future Center” at William Penn to provide students with academic support, career mentoring and hands-on STEM learning. All students at the school will take part in the expanded programming. The initiative includes hiring new staff to run the center.

IPS Superintendent Aleesia Johnson said middle school is the right time to support students as they consider future careers.

“It matters because this is about equity and this is about opportunity,” Johnson said at the announcement Tuesday morning. “We’re intervening at the exact time when our students, particularly our students of color and from low income communities are deciding what is possible for their futures.”

Destination 2032 includes the Lilly Foundation STEM Scholars program, which will begin at William Penn and expand to Arlington Middle School by 2027–28, eventually serving about 1,900 students. Students in the program can later take part in a STEM fellowship at Arsenal Technical High School, modeled after the IU Health Fellowship at Crispus Attucks, to gain career experience and build on classroom learning.

IPS previously expanded algebra math to all middle school students. In the 2022-23 school year, just 34 percent of students had access to the course.

WFYI education reporter Sydney Dauphinais covers Marion County schools. Contact her at sdauphinais@wfyi.org.