High Point teacher receives grant

WANTAGE — The Lowe’s Charitable and Educational Foundation has awarded Aaron Baker from High Point Regional High School a $4,990 Lowe’s Toolbox for Education® grant for a Biopac Health Science System.
High Point Regional High School is one of 608 schools across the United States to be awarded a Lowe’s Toolbox for Education grant during its Fall 2017 grants cycle for improvement projects.
According to Baker, a science teacher at High Point who applied for and received the grant, “Our mission is to provide hands-on clinical experiences for students that are considering a career in the medical or health-related fields. The Biopac Health Science System will allow our students to perform and evaluate data from electromyography (EMG), electroencephalography (EEG), electrocardiography (ECG), electrooculography (EOG), pulmonary function analysis, and heart sound analysis. In addition to providing practical career-related experience, we hope to inspire students to continue to pursue education related to medicine and health. This will not only increase their career and educational opportunities in this growing field, it will also give them the chance to make the world better by working to improve human health.”
Baker, who also teaches AP Biology and AP Environmental Science, adds “At our school we work hard to provide students with an excellent and well-rounded education. To achieve this goal, we need students to be passionate about their education — we want them to feel like they have a purpose. An Anatomy and Physiology program enhanced with the technology to perform real-world clinical evaluations of brain, heart, eye, lung, and muscle activity has the potential to inspire passion by allowing students to experience clinical techniques that are used in the real-world to evaluate and improve human health. We want students to leave this program of study realizing that they have the experience and potential to make our world a better place.”
Anatomy and Physiology was introduced to the High Point Course Catalog in 2017 under the leadership of Mr. Baker. Students enrolled in the course also have the opportunity to receive concurrent enrollment credits through a partnership with Sussex County Community College.
“Anatomy and Physiology is a course that had been requested by our graduates for years. Mr. Baker has worked tirelessly to design and implement it into one of our fastest growing electives,” said Brian Drelick, STEM Supervisor at High Point. “The experiences he provides his students in and outside the building affirm his genuine love and passion for Science Education.”
Since its inception in 2005, Lowe’s Toolbox for Education has provided more than $60 million in grants to more than 13,000 schools, benefiting more than 6 million schoolchildren. Grants are available to K-12 public schools in the United States for a wide range of improvement projects. Schools may be eligible to receive Toolbox grants up to $100,000. Parent groups and educators can apply by visiting ToolboxForEducation.com.
Since 1957, Lowe’s Gives Foundation has helped improve communities across North America through financial contributions and support for employee volunteerism.