July 01, 2015

Manchin Applauds NYSF Acquisition of STEM Education Center

Senator Manchin calls on officials to ensure the necessary state and federal funding to enhance STEM programming

Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) applauded the National Youth Science Foundation’s (NYSF) acquisition of the $20 million Canaan Valley Institute (CVI) facilities in Tucker County. NYSF will recommission the campus as the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Education Center, expand and improve its national and international programs and become a focal point that encourages youth in West Virginia and across the country to pursue education and careers in STEM.

As it expands STEM education programming through the National Youth Science Camp, NYSF hopes to qualify the STEM Education Center as one of West Virginia’s STEM education hubs, which could benefit as many as 1,000 West Virginia students every year. Senator Manchin and NYSF are calling on state and federal officials to designate necessary funding to enhance STEM programming at the STEM Education Center.

“I am thrilled that the National Youth Science Foundation’s has official acquired the CVI facilities in Tucker County for its state-of-the-art STEM Education Center,” Senator Manchin said. “With the necessary state and federal funding, this new center has the potential to become a national hub for STEM education, attracting the nation’s best and brightest to West Virginia and enhancing our economy, our education programs, and our next generation of skilled professionals. I applaud the efforts of Judge Pearson and everyone at the National Youth Science Foundation, as well as the local residents, the Tucker County Commission and all those who have dedicated so much hard work and time to making this acquisition a reality.” 

NYSF’s acquisition of the STEM Education Center was also made possible by the generosity of its 6,000 alumni and other supporters. Together, they have pledged funds sufficient to meet the overhead expenses of the STEM Education Center for the first five years of operation, while the Foundation seeks funding to build the staff to reach many more West Virginia students throughout the calendar year.

Earlier this year, Senator Manchin wrote a letter to the U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Sally Jewell and to the U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker urging them to allow NYSF to take control of the CVI facility. To read Senator Manchin’s letters, please click here and here.

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