MONTGOMERY, AL — Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama is providing a grant worth $78,800 that will allow Montgomery Public Schools (MPS) to expand robotics programs at all eight MPS high schools.

On Friday, January 28, 2022, HMMA hosted its first on-site robotics competition as part of its H.I.R.E. program. H.I.R.E. is the Hyundai Initiative for Robotics Excellence. Through this program, Hyundai is sponsoring robotics programs at all ten of Montgomery’s public middle schools.

Currently only at the middle schools, the new funding will allow MPS to bring robotics to the high schools as well. H.I.R.E. will provide equipment, training, and other support for the robotics programs to come to the high school level.

In 2020, Hyundai teamed up with Auburn University’s Southeast Center of Robotics Education (SCORE) to start the Hyundai Initiative for Robotics Excellence. The goal was to establish robotics teams at public middle schools in Montgomery County to seed the next generation of a technically proficient workforce.

“We’re really excited to be able to provide the funding necessary to make this a reality in the fall of 2022 at the high school level,” said Robert Burns, Chief Administrative Officer – HMMA. “We believe whether a student is going to pursue robotics in automotive, or any STEM-related career, it’s important for Montgomery and Alabama as a whole. We want to be a part of growing the workforce.”

Dr. Ann Roy Moore, superintendent of Montgomery Public Schools, said the expansion to the H.I.R.E. program will help advance STEM curriculum for MPS students. “We have a number of schools that are already STEM certified, and we have some that are in the works to becoming STEM certified,” she said. “this will be another lift to those initiatives for our students in Montgomery Public Schools.”