In what could become a growing trend in public-private partnerships, Mercury Marine has decided to partner with the Fond du Lac School District to launch a charter school to address the oft-cited dearth of graduates in the STEM disciplines, according to a report in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
The outboard engine manufacturer, which is Fond du Lac’s largest employer, said the school is designed for children in grades three through five, with the hope of pointing them toward careers in science and engineering. The program will begin this fall with 100 students.
It is believed to be the first charter school in Wisconsin in which a key manufacturer has been involved with an educational program tailored to younger students. Most attempts at luring young people into the STEM disciplines – science, technology, engineering, and math – are aimed at middle school students, especially girls. Women have been under-represented in these fields for years, a situation that intensified following the dotcom bust of the early 2000s.
Mercury Marine, a division of Brunswick Corp. that employs 5,000 people worldwide, told the Journal Sentinel that it wants to reach young children while they are still “naturally curious” about science.
