Michael SheridanDemystifying Artificial Intelligence: A Secure, Self-Hosted LLM Environment for Digital Fluency
Schenectady City School District
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The "Demystifying Artificial Intelligence" project aims to transform middle and high school students from passive consumers of AI into active computer science engineers by establishing a 100% data-secure, locally hosted Large Language Model (LLM) laboratory. While commercial cloud-based AI tools present severe data privacy and FERPA compliance concerns for schools, this project bypasses those roadblocks by bringing the AI infrastructure directly into the classroom. Using the grant funds to purchase a high-memory Apple Mac workstation capable of processing massive language models entirely offline, students will have a secure sandbox to run, test, and manipulate open-weights AI models. Without ever needing a Wi-Fi connection or sending personal data to third-party servers, students will adjust backend parameters (like temperature and token generation), evaluate different models against engineering constraints, and see exactly how AI calculates language. Ultimately, this local setup demystifies the "magic" of AI, directly aligning with New York State Computer Science and Digital Fluency Standards by providing hands-on experience with the mechanics, hardware, and ethics of modern computing.
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Danielle HastingsSkyward Bound Drone Initiative
Island Trees Union Free School District
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The "Skyward Bound" initiative transforms traditional physics and technology instruction into a high-fidelity, career-aligned aeronautics program through the integration of advanced flight simulation and professional-grade drone operations. The purpose of this project is to bridge the gap between digital literacy and commercial industry standards by providing students with the safety infrastructure and simulation tools necessary to pursue FAA Part 107 certification. Students will engage with the grant resources by utilizing RadioMaster flight controllers to master complex maneuvers in a virtual environment before transitioning to the physical flight lab. Within the safe confines of our grant-funded flight netting, students will conduct autonomous and manual flight missions, troubleshooting real-time telemetry data, and applying computational thinking to solve aerial navigation challenges. This project transforms the classroom into a professional test-flight facility, moving students from passive technology consumers to certified operators in the emerging drone economy.
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Jackie Corleto
Sauquoit Valley Elementary School
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The grant project that I am proposing, is aimed at bringing Sphero Indi Robots to Sauquoit Valley Elementary School. These robots would provide our students opportunities to engage in hands-on learning experiences that build foundational coding, problem-solving, and critical thinking skills. The purpose of the project is to introduce age-appropriate computer science concepts through play-based exploration while supporting collaboration, creativity, and perseverance. With the implementation of the robots, we are looking to use the robots in the library, classroom STEAM lessons, small group enrichment, and schoolwide learning opportunities across multiple grade levels. Students will be using these resources to help strengthen a multidisciplinary approach to learning, which will allow different content areas, such as Math, ELA, and Science, to be infused with New York State Computer Science and Digital Fluency Standards. These resources will help create meaningful learning experiences that prepare students to be innovative thinkers and future-ready learners.
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Joanna Sciarrillo
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This project, From Design to Reality Student Innovation Through 3D Problem Solving, will empower students in grades 3 to 5 to become creators, innovators, and problem solvers by transforming how they learn through technology. Many students do not have access to advanced tools that allow them to bring their ideas to life, and this project will change that by placing powerful, hands on resources directly into their learning experience. Students will identify real challenges within their classroom or school community and use computer aided design software to create thoughtful, purposeful solutions. With the support of a 3D printer and materials funded through this grant, they will turn their ideas into real, physical prototypes, test their designs, and improve them through perseverance and reflection. This project integrates reading, writing, math, and computer science in a meaningful way, giving students a voice, a purpose, and a sense of pride in their work. By engaging in this process, students will not only build academic skills, but also confidence, creativity, and a belief that they have the power to design solutions and make a real difference in the world around them.
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Colleen Rosenthal
Holy Family School Fairmount - Diocese of Syracuse
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Students all too often are using technology primarily for consumption rather than creation. The vision for this project is to establish a K–6 Student Digital Media Lab designed to foster digital creativity, media literacy, digital citizenship, and 21st-century skills. Using existing classroom iPads and Chromebooks alongside grant-funded media production tools, students will create and edit digital photography, short videos, stop motion animation, narrated slideshows, and multimedia storytelling projects. These projects will highlight classroom learning, school community events, acts of kindness, and faith-based service initiatives. Through collaboration with classroom teachers, media production will be integrated across subject areas, allowing students to apply technology as a tool for creation, communication, and critical thinking, while also strengthening computational thinking skills. This initiative will transform technology use by empowering students to become active creators, responsible digital citizens, collaborators, and storytellers.
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Kaila Carson
Smithtown Central School District
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In third grade, students develop their understanding of multiplication through learning how to find the area of rectangular and composite shapes. As a culminating project, students are tasked with designing their dream floor plan for a one story home. During planning stages for this project, students engage with professionals in our community, such as architects and construction managers, to understand real-world applications of the thorough process involved with how area can be utilized to build and design houses. They integrate their prior knowledge with anecdotes from professionals to design the blueprint for their dream home floor plan, with various “constraints” and “criteria” provided by their project manager (their classroom teacher). For example, criteria include that they must have at least four rooms, there must be hallways connecting the rooms, and all lines must follow the grid (no diagonals). Constraints include that students must limit their floor plans to the size of the 8.5” x 11” grid paper and the floor plan must be for a one story home. This grant would allow for this project to become interdisciplinary to incorporate digital fluency skills and computer science skills as students will create physical manifestations of their 2D blueprints through the use of “Tinkercad” and a 3D printer. “Tinkercad” is an online digital makerspace platform that provides students with a space to design and create. This project will allow students to experiment with the 3D design tool on Tinkercad. After having their 2D floor plan approved, they will integrate their digital fluency skills with the website Tinkercad to create a 3D digital model of their 2D floor plan. Students will be able to troubleshoot any flaws in their design as they work within the software. Finally, students will learn how to export their 3D models on Tinkercad to a 3D printer, and print 3D floor plan renderings that provide an enhanced bird’s eye view of their design. Ultimately, students will bridge foundational math concepts with real-world design skills using Tinkercad and 3D printing, empowering them to apply their understanding in a meaningful way while building digital literacy and problem-solving skills.
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Marissa Gee
Kenmore West High School - Kenmore Town of Tonawanda UFSD
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Wallets, Wires & War transforms a 15:1 social studies inclusion classroom at Kenmore West High School into a fully immersive 1940s environment — period furniture, authentic artifacts, and curated character wallets containing wartime ration cards, identification, family photos, period currency, and personal mementos — placing students directly inside the lived experience of World War II-era Americans. Grant funds will purchase a ViewSonic TD3207 32-inch touchscreen monitor paired with a mini PC to create a fully internet-connected interactive kiosk, plus fifteen headset microphone sets, to power a student-built digital museum that unites analogue historical artifacts with modern creation tools. Students will assume the identity of a character embedded in their wallet or research an actual Kenmore West graduate from the school's wartime honor roll yearbook, then use audio recording technology to narrate that person's story in first person. They will also select a period technology from the immersive classroom and produce a multimedia then-versus-now comparison artifact, and — using AI-assisted video tools — create a short cinematic "day in the life" clip that projects their character into the 1940s classroom environment. All student work will be published to an interactive digital flipbook accessible to the school community via the touchscreen kiosk, making the classroom itself a living, student-curated museum. This project is innovative because technology does not merely deliver content — it is the museum medium through which students construct, share, and interpret history, transforming the teacher's role from lecturer to historical curator and positioning every student as an active historian, storyteller, and exhibit designer
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Sarah Robinson
Mount Markham Central School District
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In an era defined by rapid technological advancement, education must evolve to prepare students with the scientific knowledge and digital skills necessary for future success. This proposal outlines an innovative approach to high school biology instruction that integrates hands-on biotechnology with collaborative digital learning to create authentic, real-world experiences for students. Funding will support the purchase of four miniPCR blueGel Electrophoresis System units, micropipettes, agarose gel materials and buffer, and DNA analysis kits centered on the “Baby Marie” case study. In this scenario, students investigate whether an infant has inherited the gene for sickle cell anemia, positioning them as geneticists solving a real-world problem. Students will design and conduct laboratory investigations by preparing agarose gels, accurately micropipetting DNA samples, and running the gel electrophoresis to separate DNA fragments. They will then analyze DNA banding patterns to determine genetic outcomes and construct evidence-based explanations grounded in their data. Technology is central to this project’s transformative impact. Students will use digital tools to collaboratively collect and analyze data, create visualizations, and communicate findings through multimedia products. Extension activities will leverage classroom immersive technologies to deepen understanding of how genetic mutations affect red blood cell structure and function, connecting molecular biology to human health outcomes. By combining hands-on biotechnology with digital collaboration and analysis, this project moves beyond traditional instruction to create a student-centered, inquiry-driven learning environment. Students will develop critical thinking, scientific reasoning, and digital literacy skills while engaging in meaningful applications of modern genetic science.
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Dionne Barratt
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Building on our district’s new capital improvement STEAM spaces, I plan to create an Innovation Hub (i-Hub) to support continued learning for students and teachers. This multi-grade pilot is designed to empower our students- our "Eagles"- into resilient problem solvers and effective communicators through a developmental continuum of robotics. By adding resources like Ozobots, Micro:bits, and Arduinos to our current plugged and unplugged computer science tools, students could move from passive technology consumers to active inventors as they collaboratively explore everything from screen-free logic to mechanical prototyping and engineering. To ensure the program's impact, teachers would also participate in professional development focused on the New York State Computer Science and Digital Fluency Standards and the New York State Portrait of a Graduate skills and dispositions.
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Josh Tomkin
Schodack Central School District
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This grant proposal seeks to enhance the CiTi BOCES annual aerospace curriculum by upgrading our foundational rocketry infrastructure. By transitioning to a professional-grade launch system, we aim to modernize our hands-on STEM programming and scale our capacity to meet growing student interest in the burgeoning space economy.
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Megan Shore
Alleghany Avenue Elementary School- Lindenhurst School District
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The PAWS Innovation Lab will introduce 3D printing technology into the school library STEAM program by establishing a small makerspace equipped with four classroom-ready 3D printers, allowing students to design, prototype, and create real-world solutions to authentic problems while reinforcing our PBIS core values: Practice Respect, Accept Responsibility, Work Hard, and Safety Matters (PAWS). Through weekly “Fun Friday STEAM Labs,” students in grades K–5 will participate in hands-on design challenges where they use computer-aided design (CAD) software to create objects that support their school community, such as assistive classroom tools, environmental solutions, and school spirit items that reinforce positive behavior. Students will move through the engineering design process by researching, designing, testing, and refining prototypes before printing them using the 3D printers housed in the library makerspace. Having multiple printers will allow several student teams to work simultaneously, increasing equitable access and reducing wait time for printing student-created designs. The project will expand access to emerging technology, foster creativity and problem solving, and empower students to see themselves as innovators who use technology to positively impact their community.
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Nicole Connelly
Three Village Central School District
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The purpose of this project is to bring the high school library into the digital age and to create a space that lends itself to student inquiry and the generation of new ideas. Providing students with digital tools and accompanying training will open new pathways to learning. Currently the high school library is not outfitted with basic equipment that is common in most libraries including 3D printers, Cricut machines, and a recording studio with green screen technology and quality microphones. Having access to these technologies will provide students with the opportunies to make classroom connections as well as supplement their learning thus improving digital fluency.
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Joseph Luzzi
Wappingers Central School District
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The Forging the Future: Advanced Metal 3D Printing Lab will establish a cutting-edge advanced manufacturing resource within Wappingers Central School District’s Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs and robotics clubs, designed to provide students with hands-on experience in engineering design and metal fabrication. The purpose of this project is to bridge classroom learning with real-world application by giving students access to industry-relevant metal 3D printing technology, enabling them to design, prototype, and produce functional components. The scope includes the integration of the metal 3D printer into CTE coursework, robotics engineering projects, and the district’s Winners Circle Project, where students build and race Factory Five kit cars. Students will use CAD software to design custom parts, manufacture prototypes, and iterate on solutions for robotics systems and automotive builds, applying concepts in engineering, materials science, and problem-solving. Through these authentic, project-based experiences, students will develop technical skills, collaboration, and workforce readiness while producing tangible products that directly impact competitive robotics and real-world automotive engineering applications.
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Audrey Gottlieb
Hempstead Union Free School District
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The purpose of this grant project is to expand Career and Technical Education (CTE) programming for adult learners by developing industry-aligned training pathways that lead to sustainable employment in jewelry and advanced manufacturing. The project will establish three integrated training tracks: CAD for Jewelry and Digital Fabrication, CNC and Machinery for Jewelry and Metal Applications, and Bench Jewelry and Jewelry Repair. These pathways will be supported by industry-standard equipment, instructional technology, certification-aligned curriculum, and expanded student support services including case management and flexible learning options. Students will use these resources to engage in hands-on, project-based learning using CAD software, CNC machinery, and jewelry fabrication tools to develop technical competencies aligned with workforce needs. The goal is to prepare learners for industry certifications, apprenticeships, and entry-level employment in high-demand manufacturing and skilled trades.
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Kevin O'Shea
Rondout Valley Central School District
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This grant will support the creation and implementation of a Student Media Studio at Rondout Valley Intermediate School, where students will script and produce original podcast and video content focused on topics relevant to them and their learning. Funds will be used to purchase microphones, headsets, a green screen, and other video production equipment to support high-quality media creation. The purpose of this project is to engage students in meaningful, real-world learning by using their interest in social media content creation to explore topics ranging from traditional academic topics like math and ELA to student phone use in schools and responsible internet and tech behavior. Students will collaborate in small groups to research, script, record, and edit podcast episodes, using the provided tools to communicate their ideas and perspectives with the school community. Through this process, students will develop skills in communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and responsible digital media use, transforming technology into a tool for active learning and student voice.
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