Administrators, teachers and students at Saline Middle School hope their online proposal at the Pepsi Refresh Project garners enough votes to receive a $25,000 grant from the soda company.

Saline Middle School is one of hundreds of organizations seeking funding from the project, an online initiative by Pepsi. The project accepts ideas from people or non-profit organizations with ways to improve their communities.

Once submissions are approved, visitors to the project’s Web site vote for their favorite ideas.

The school wants to use the funding to purchase laptops and other equipment for a science and mathematics program, Project Lead the Way.

“Anything we can do to bring innovative science, technology, math and engineering in the hands of all kids,” said Saline Middle School principal David Raft.

“This is the opportunity to do this.”

The school’s proposal needs to finish among the top-10 to receive the $25,000 grant. The school ranked No. 15 as of Wednesday afternoon. Voting ends May 31.

“We’re hopeful,” said Steve Laatsch, assistant superintendent for instruction for the Saline Area Schools. “We’ve got a decent chance at it, and we’ve got a pretty large following that’s voting every day.”

Laatsch submitted the proposal to the website after a parent told him about Pepsi’s initiative.

“(Project Lead the Way) is engaging for the kids and integrates all disciplines,” said Laatsch. “The exercises don’t have a final answer. It’s open-ended so that kids can solve problems, but may solve them differently.”

Project Lead the Way encourages students to pursue science, technology, engineering and mathematics through exercises that emphasize engagement.

To vote for Saline Middle School, visit the school’s submission page at the Pepsi Refresh Project.

“The ultimate goal is to produce more engineers," Laatsch said. "We want to help Saline get kids enthusiastic about science and engineering.”