Equipping Future Innovators: Turner and Free2Teach Advance STEM Learning in Huntsville

Turner recently partnered with Free2Teach, a Huntsville nonprofit dedicated to equipping local public-school teachers with essential learning resources to create a Turner-branded STEM activity and lesson.

Turner team members assembled 100 STEM kits for Free2Teach’s Free 2 Explore program, a collaboration with local industry that brings interactive STEM experiences directly into classrooms across Madison and Limestone counties.

The Turner kits leverage our history of building some of the tallest buildings in the world to engage middle school students in engineering and design thinking. The “Paper Skyscraper Challenge” tasks student teams to act as civil engineers as they design and build newspaper towers. They are given limited supplies paralleling real-world limitations faced by engineers while they build their towers for height and stability.  The towers also must withstand a simulated hurricane at the end of the activity.

The kits impact an estimated 3,000 students, providing hands-on opportunities to explore STEM principles in a way that is both fun and purposeful.

Turner’s broader goal is investing in the next generation of problem solvers and construction professionals by supporting STEM literacy and closing resource gaps that can limit educational access.  

In the Free2Teach partnership, Turner provides the expertise and resources for a community organization to build educational infrastructure and strengthen the academic foundation for future talent in the region.