Mr. Pitochelli, a teacher at Fullerton Union High School, has a unique idea to engage his students in a hands-on learning project. In his own words:

“Our Biology Engineering Arts Science Technology (BEAST) is a STEAM program in which students study art, biology, and physics through the lens of the film and theme park industries to innovate and create animatronics, machines that move like living creatures. Students will design and fabricate life-sized prehistoric mechanical insects that not only look like the gigantic creatures that once flourished on our planet, but move like them too!”

He is asking the public to donate to his project on DonorsChoose.org so that his students have the necessary equipment to operate the power-hungry features of their creatures.

Mr. Pitochelli is among over 67,000 teachers from California public schools who have had projects funded on DonorsChoose.org. California teachers have raised $149 million from nearly 619,000 donors to fund over 217,000 classroom project requests. These projects have inspired our community of donors to reach across state borders; 42% of the donations to California projects have come from outside of the state.