MASSENA – The Alcoa Foundation recently granted $30,000 to the Police Activities League of Massena (PAL). Alcoa Foundation supports community resiliency programs aimed at increasing access to education, health, clean water, STEM-related school programs and student mentorship, and food security. 

The grant will be used to support new after-school programming during the 2024-2025 school year.

“The overarching theme is Environmental Literacy and STEM," said Zachary Monroe, PAL Executive Director.  “We will be running five to six "clubs" every week throughout the year. Every 5 weeks all of the children in our program will select which "club" they would like to belong to. A variety of activities in each "club" focus on Environmental Literacy helping the children to become Environmental Ambassadors. The "clubs" will include a First Lego League Robotics team which will prepare to compete at Clarkson University's regional event, a STEM club, a Healthy Habits club, a cooking club, and an Engineering club. We know that children learn in different ways and have different interests. We are hoping to engage and impact the children more via these different interest groups, all while helping them grow in their knowledge of environmental literacy.”  

Chrissy Moody, Alcoa Massena Operations HR Business Partner, toured the facility and presented the check on behalf of Alcoa Foundation to Monroe and some of the students that attended. 

“We are excited to support PAL and the new programming. This approach not only enhances student’s academic achievement, but it also inspires them to pursue careers in STEM, contributing to a more sustainable future,” stated Moody.