This winter the Minnesota High Tech Association’s ACE Leadership Alumni Executive Committee, in partnership with Minnesota Computers for Schools, developed a grant that would award a Minnesota classroom teacher with his or her choice of either ten desktop computers or six laptops. The application was posted exclusively on getSTEM, the deadline was February 4th, and a decision was made later in the month. While the ACE Alumni were evaluating the applications, Tamara Gillard of Minnesota Computers for Schools informed them that additional funding options would allow them to select a total of three grant recipients!
The recipients of the Computers to Classrooms Grant were: Norma Arellano and Brandon Burns of Osseo High School, Diane Georgi from Lino Lakes Elementary, and Marcia Templeman and Terry Gjersvik of Albert Lea High School.
At Osseo High School, Norma and Brandon’s biology classes have to share a computer lab with four other departments, so access to the lab is infrequent and requires that they request time far in advance. The Computers to Classrooms Grant will allow their students to utilize laptops in the science lab so they can more fully understand the important connection between science and technology.
Diane Georgi and the staff at Lino Lakes Elementary have committed to integrating technology into the curriculum, especially in the STEM subjects. However, the vast majority of computer hardware in their school is over seven years old and very unreliable. Diane says these laptops will allow the students to “search for ways to turn outdoor spaces into open air classrooms to extend the opportunities for learning.”
The Options Day Treatment Program at Albert Lea High School is a Special Education program serving students with emotional and behavioral disorders. According to Marcia Templeman and Terry Gjersvik two-thirds of the kids in this program are on free or reduced lunch and have no access to computer technology outside of school, where there are a limited number of computers within the program. Marcia and Terry say that the six laptops they received from the Computers to Classrooms Grant will allow them “much more flexibility for specialized instruction.”
These incredible connections made via getSTEM will improve the educational experiences of over 700 students this school year, and just as many—if not more—next year.
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