PANAMA CITY, FL--(Marketwired - Dec 19, 2014) - Doral Bank (NYSE: DRL) has invested in the next generation of scientists, technologists, engineers and mathematicians by creating a classroom grant program benefitting teachers and students in Bay County, Fla., public schools.

The Bank established the Doral Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Showcase Grants program with a $20,000 contribution to the Bay Education Foundation. The Foundation, in turn, used that money to leverage an additional $10,000 in matching funds from the Consortium of Florida Education Foundations.

The Bay County School Board announced 27 grants of $1,000 each at its meeting on October 28. Projects completed with grant money will be displayed at a juried showcase in the spring. Winners at the elementary, middle and high school levels will receive an additional $1,000.

"We've been thrilled with the enthusiasm displayed by teachers in response to the opportunities made possible by Doral," said Bay Education Foundation executive director Beth Deluzain. "We see this as a community development project. By leading students to STEM careers, we can build a workforce that will interest the kind of employers that we want to attract."

The arrival of Doral's program coincided with a reduction in federal dollars used to fund a STEM camp conducted at Florida State University-Panama City, noted Foundation president Leon Walters, a retired physicist who worked at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Panama City Division.

"As far as I'm concerned, there's no bad time for an investment in STEM education, but Doral's contribution came at an especially good time," Walters said.

At Rosenwald High School, an alternative, Title I school in Panama City, students will be developing computer apps. Teachers there said that project would not have been possible without Doral's support.

Other Doral-funded projects will explore subjects ranging from solar-powered transportation to electrical engineering to robotics.

Mosley High School science department chairwoman Lorene Lindsay's students will work through a criminal case and identify the perpetrator through the use of DNA fingerprinting. The project also is intended to enhance students' understanding of evolutionary relationships and the structure of genetic material.

"We're grooming innovators," said Doral Bank's Florida marketing director Steve Bornhoft, who served as the Bay Education Foundation's board president for nine years. "One day, future generations of students may study their discoveries and inventions."

About Doral Bank
 Doral Bank has branches in Florida, New York and Puerto Rico and is a member of the FDIC. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Doral Financial Corporation, which is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under ticker symbol, DRL.