Help Lucille Brown Middle School win a state-of the-art lab for STEM subjects, science, technology, engineering and math.

That’s the appeal the Richmond school and its supporters are issuing to the community as the school competes for a $100,000 grant from the Northrop Grumman Foundation to install a lab that would give Brown Middle students access to the latest learning tools and technologies.

The middle school is one of 20 semifinalists vying for five grants from the charity arm of the technology and weapon systems company and the only Richmond area school on the list.

Now the foundation is asking the public to help make the selection for the most deserving schools by voting this week on Facebook for their choices.

Voting for Brown Middle is set to take place Thursday, Nov. 19, with ballots of support cast at www.facebook.com/FabSchoolLabs/.

Residents can vote on their own computer or go to Chippenham or Johnston-Willis hospitals, which both plan to set up voting stations in their respective lobbies for staff, patients and anyone else who wants to participate.

Brown Middle was one of nearly 200 schools to enter the competition. The school was selected as a semifinalist based on its entry submission, which included a video created by Dana Newcomer, an engineering teacher who was the 2011 Teacher of the Year for the Virginia Technology and Engineering Education Association and the 2012 recipient of the Teaching Excellence Award from the International Technology and Engineering Education Association.

Four other Virginia schools also are in the competition, including Benjamin Syms Middle, Hampton; Crittenden Middle, Newport News; Princes Anne Middle, Virginia Beach; and Herndon Middle, Fairfax County.

For more information: www.fabschoollabs.com. — JEREMY M. LAZARUS