Teachers look online to fund technology

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  • Rylei Howard (hat) and Bella Kent sit on wobble stools – a supply their teacher would like more of – while Dylan Adams and Joe Payton Moses (background) sit on stability balls to work on their Chromebooks. Photo by Samantha Sinclair
    Rylei Howard (hat) and Bella Kent sit on wobble stools – a supply their teacher would like more of – while Dylan Adams and Joe Payton Moses (background) sit on stability balls to work on their Chromebooks. Photo by Samantha Sinclair
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    Drones, headphones and wireless keyboards are all items on the wish lists of teachers across the county. To acquire these items, teachers are going online and fundraisers through DonorsChoose.
    DonorsChoose allows teachers to create classroom project requests, and allows donors to give to the projects they wish help. Once all the funds are raised, the nonprofit’s team purchases the items and ships directly to the schools.
    Tia McKeon, a third-grade teacher at Peachtree Elementary School, is looking to fund her third project on the website. She’s impressed with how easy DonorsChoose has made fundraising for teachers, as one of her projects was funded within a day.
    “We’re fortunate we live in a small town to reach out to people, and our community in Peachtree is so giving,” McKeon said, adding that about 80 percent of her DonorsChoose donations were from local residents. “I know I would find a way if I didn’t have DonorsChoose.”
    Her current project, Surf’s Up, builds on her first project, which provides alternate seating for students having issues with sitting and working on their Chromebooks for a long time, like the many tests the grade level is required to take.
    “Asking a 8- or 9-year-old to sit for a test is really hard,” McKeon said.
    The teacher said her students are also just learning the best ways they learn. She likes to give them options for seating and working on their Chromebooks.
    McKeon is fundraising for six Surf portable desks that students can use safely sit on the floor with their Chromebooks, plus four additional wobble stools. The cost of the project is $501.
    For Cherokee County, there are seven projects on the website that need funding, six of which are for technology items or supplies. Three projects of those projects will receive matching funds from Verizon for every $2 donated.
    Other technology projects include:

  •     Sounds Alive! is a project to provide 30 durable headphones to allow students at Andrews Middle School to utilize a computer program that helps them with math. The cost of the project is $536. Verizon is matching donations for this project.
  •     No Cables Allowed is a project to give students at The Learning Center charter school in Murphy wireless keyboards and mice. The 25 wireless devices will help students transition to hands-on projects easier, teacher Jay Ward wrote. The cost of the project is $542. Verizon is matching donations for this project.
  •     Learning Transported With Technology is a project to provide two Chromebooks to replace old ones and 25 headphones so students in Stacy Russell’s classroom at Andrews Middle can progress at their own pace without affecting other students. The cost of the project is $962. Verizon is matching donations for this project.
  •     Educational Success for All Learners is a project to provide organizational tools and five headphones for Jessica Ennis’ class at Murphy Elementary School. The cost of the project is $474.
  •     Advancements in Aviation Science is a project to provide a drone for students in Bryan Byrne’s aviation class at Tri-County Early College High School to learn how to do inspections and work with public safety agencies using the device. The project cost is $2,479.

    For details, visit donorschoose.org and search for local schools.

Lewis earns
top ACT score

    Jared Lewis of Brasstown earned a composite score of 36, the highest possible, on the ACT college admissions test. He said he was relieved when he finished his last standardized test in high school and knew he did the best he could on it.
    “I wanted to do well to show that all it takes to succeed on the exam is just putting in the time and effort to get there,” he added.
    Lewis is the son of Mike and Kim Lewis. The senior transferred from Murphy High School to the N.C. School of Science & Mathematics, a public high school with a residential program in Durham.
    “We were really excited for him when we got the news about his ACT score,” his father said. “Not that a test score on any given day is a measure of a person, but in this case at least it does speak to the character of a young man who put in hours of hard work, and sacrificed vacation time and weekend time, to see what he is capable of.
    “For that we couldn’t be more proud.”
    Less than half of a percent of students who take the ACT earn a composite score of 36, while about 5 percent of students at School of Science & Mathematics earn the score. The composite score is the average of the four test scores in English, math, reading and science.
    ACT scores are accepted by all major four-year colleges and universities in the country. Lewis hopes to attend University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill and study software engineering or economics.
    Samantha Sinclair is the Scouting Around columnist for the Cherokee Scout. You can reach her by phone, 837-5122, Ext. 24; or email, scoutingaround@cherokeescout.com.