245 students receive holiday STEM backpacks through SURF Foundation’s Giving Tuesday campaign

This December, Sanford Underground Research Facility’s (SURF) global community raised funds to provide basic school supplies and STEM learning activities to local K-8 students. Last week, 245 holiday STEM backpacks were delivered to Isna Wica Owayawa (Loneman School) in Oglala, South Dakota.

At Loneman School, students have been learning virtually for nine months, since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. SURF’s Education and Outreach (E&O) team has been working with Loneman School educators to provide monthly enrichment programs, engaging students in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). Although federal funds have supplied students with tablets and Wi-Fi for remote learning, the E&O team was told that students likely would not have access to materials needed to take part in science activities from their homes.

Members of the E&O team, including Peggy Norris, deputy director for E&O at SURF, have been working with educators at Loneman School since this summer. Norris described the difficultly of planning engaging science activities when students have such limited resources: “I asked, ‘But what about pencil and paper? Can we ask them to at least have that for the lesson? And the teacher said, ‘No, they probably don't have that either.’”  

Norris began thinking of ways to bridge this gap. She decided to try to gift each student at the school with basic school supplies and STEM-based learning activities this holiday season. Norris said her community of friends and coworkers immediately supported the idea.

Norris worked with Staci Miller, director of the SURF Foundation, to create a fundraising campaign during the Foundation’s Giving Tuesday Campaign in early December. Matching funds were pledged by the SDSTA Board of Directors, the SURF Foundation Board of Directors and Mike Headley, the executive director of SURF. And SURF employees donated generously to the campaign. Many volunteered their time, helping Norris pack hundreds of backpacks.

“It’s our honor to partner with the tribal schools in the region to provide equitable access to STEM education opportunities for all students,” Headley said. “In this season of giving, the SURF family is proud to work with Loneman School to provide the students a few tools and supplies they may need for engaging in STEM learning.”

The campaign also received support from Norris’ family connections. Molly Brown, Norris’ daughter and executive vice president of energy production at GenPro Energy, promoted the campaign at her workplace, and GenPro Energy supplied transportation to deliver the backpacks to Loneman School. Peggy Norris’ brother, Peter Norris, owns a dental practice in Lake Jackson, Texas. When he heard about Norris’ campaign, he donated dental hygiene supplies to be included in the backpacks.

The international research community at SURF also embraced the campaign. Two weeks into the campaign, with just 52 percent of the goal raised, David Woodward, a researcher with the LUX-ZEPLIN collaboration, shared the campaign on the LZ collaboration’s online messaging platform. His short message describing the campaign pinged more than 200 computers around the world. Within 24 hours, the donations exceeded the campaign’s goal. 

“Most members of the LZ collaboration have spent time in South Dakota while building the LZ detector, and we’ve begun to feel like part of the community. The mission of supporting STEM education in South Dakota really resonated with us. In the middle of the pandemic, this campaign gave us the opportunity to give back to this community,” said Woodward.

Evgeniia Bodnia, researcher with LZ and one of the campaign’s major donors, said, “I am very happy to hear that [this gift] made some difference! It always makes me feel good to share, especially when it comes to helping the kids.”

Through the local and global support of the SURF community, the Foundation’s Giving Tuesday campaign raised $6,605, exceeding its original goal of $5,000. Last week, the Loneman School’s meal delivery program delivered the backpacks to students.

Maridel Hallare, after-school program coordinator and math teacher at Loneman School, said that the program Loneman School worked with in the past to deliver toys to students during the holidays was interrupted due to Covid-19. “When Peggy called me and told me they were doing this, creating these gifts for the students, I was so excited, so happy for our students,” Hallare said.

While celebrating this heartening campaign, the team recognizes the ongoing effort that goes into creating sustainable and equitable STEM education opportunities to all students in South Dakota. Norris said, “When we work with schools, we have to focus on the relationships, the partnerships that we are building over time.”

“The SURF Foundation continues to work with E&O to support STEM education and professional development initiatives. We want teachers to have the tools that they need to bring Sanford Lab science into the classroom,” Miller said. “Our desire is for students to see themselves as scientists, researchers and engineers.”

Sanford Lab is operated by the South Dakota Science and Technology Authority (SDSTA) with funding from the Department of Energy. Our mission is to advance world class science and inspire learning across generations. Established in 2019, the SURF Foundation supports that mission by building upon strong relationships within the community and opening doors for public contributions. Visit Sanford Lab at www.SanfordLab.org.