The Barrington Education Foundation recently awarded more than $70,000 in grants to Barrington public schools for 2017.

Students in local schools will now have new opportunities in design thinking, engineering, coding, art and drama, thanks to the grants. This year, BEF awarded six grants totaling $70,133 to the Barrington public schools to benefit children at all six schools.

Included among this year's grants was $12,000 for "design thinking." The grant will allow sixth-graders at Barrington Middle School to help design a space that will be included within the construction of the new middle school. 

The students will work with the Providence-based non-profit organization, DownCity Design, to turn their ideas into reality. The construction of the new middle school building is scheduled to being in the spring, and officials plan for the building to open for the 2019-20 school year.

Following is a list of this year’s grant winners:

• iCreate Lab at Barrington High School ($31,285) — This student-led maker space provides opportunities for students to design, create, invent and engage in entrepreneurial ventures. "BEF is committed to making the iCreate Lab an inspiring, thriving space where students have the tools and support necessary to solve real-world problems, to innovate, to collaborate with classmates and to explore core content outside a traditional classroom setting."

• Design Thinking grant at Barrington Middle School ($12,000) — All sixth grade students will engage in the design thinking process with the ultimate goal of designing a space for the new middle school. DownCity Design, a Providence non-profit whose goal is to empower young people to design solutions for their communities, will facilitate the program. Students will be involved in sharing their work and presenting plans to the school and the community at large.

• i2learning at Hampden Meadows School ($12,000) — All fifth grade students will experience a week-long immersive STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) program on kinetic sculpture.

• Lego Wedo at Sowams School ($3,031) — This grant enhances implementation of STEM (Science Technology, Engineering and Math) curriculum and adds a coding component.

• Jumanji Performance Art Production at Hampden Meadows School ($6,717) — All fifth-graders will work together to create a movie production of Chris Van Allsburg’s book, Jumanji.

• Meet the Artist grant at all K-3 schools ($5,100) — Barrington author and illustrator Mary Jane Begin will work with students to teach them about the creative process of an artist.

Every year, Barrington educators are invited to apply for grants to benefit their students. The deadline for this year’s grant applications is Jan. 17, 2018. People can visit BEF's website, http://www.barringtoneducation.org/ to download an application.

"It is only with the financial support of families and businesses that care deeply about education that BEF can continue to provide these types of grants," stated the press release for the grants. "Please consider making a donation to help BEF continue to champion extraordinary educational opportunities. All donations are tax-deductible."

Since 1992, BEF has awarded more than $1 million in grants to Barrington public schools.