BAYBORO | Pamlico County has been awarded a $1.2 million grant from the Golden LEAF Foundation to create an educational training pipeline from middle school through college to help create a workforce to fill local and regional jobs in science, technology, engineering and math jobs.Beth Bucksot, the county economic developer, said areas have been identified where present and future businesses in these fields have the potential to grow in Pamlico County.”Having this skilled workforce and customized training will aid in attracting new STEM-based businesses and creating the future jobs needed to give students and adults the opportunity to live and work in Pamlico County,” she said. “Regional students who attend Pamlico Community College and regional employers will benefit as well.”The program will include Pamlico County Middle School, Pamlico County High School, Arapahoe Charter school and Pamlico Community College.The grant was awarded through the county.Sherry Meador, the Pamlico Schools director for instructional services, said the grant is for three years, requires no local tax money and that future grants will be available upon the program’s results and growth.She said that the program will require teachers being trained and certified. That will involve science, math and career technical education teachers.Meador said the program’s budget meeting is later this month, with plans to initiate it in the middle school this fall and begin it at the high school level in the 2017-18 term.She said money will also be used to restructure classrooms for new equipment, which includes items such as computers, 3D printers, robotic kits and other specialized equipment.”We will use these modules and labs to model or mimic the projected jobs that we are expecting to have in Craven, Beaufort and Pamlico counties so that we don’t lose our young folks, and that they stay in the community and continue to build our workforce,” Meador said. “It is to provide an avenue for us to provide very strategic training.”She said this type program was overdue.”We were the only school district in Eastern North Carolina that did not have a STEM lab opportunity for the middle school students,” Meador said.She said the training is toward projected job opportunities in the region.”These sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade kids still have four more years after that before they actually get into the workforce,” she said, adding that the availability of trained workers will help Bucksot and the economic development efforts for the county.Page 2 of 2 – The areas of training will include engineering, alternative energy, architectural design, biotechnology, communications, construction, digital electronics, environmental, manufacturing and transportation technology, along with materials science and robotics and automation.Seed money from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, the NC Connect Bond and in-kind contributions from the schools and college provided the matching funds.According to information from Bucksot, the labs at the community college will be used by college students, along with 11th- and 12th-grade dual enrollment students, returning adult workforce and allow customized training for businesses.It also will create networking, job exposure and mentorship between students and staff and local and regional businesses.The major contributors to the grant writing were Maria Fraser-Molina, Tammy Scott, Meador, Brandi McCullough, Shirley Holt, Tim Buck and Bucksot.A number of area entities and businesses are listed as providing input, support and future commitments to the program EAS Global.