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Box Elder celebrates $1.3 million in Apples

Box Elder Public School took a big step into the digital age Tuesday, when students, teachers and staff members received a trove of iPads and MacBooks.

The devices were courtesy of a grant from Apple as part of the ConnectEd Initiative, an ambitious effort by President Barack Obama which aims by 2018 to have next-generation broadband Internet access in 99 percent of American classrooms.

The initiative's White House webpage said that Apple had been a partner in that effort, donating $100 million to 114 school districts across the nation, where "at least 96 percent of the student population is eligible for free or reduced price lunches."

Jeremy MacDonald, the high school principal at Box Elder, said two other Montana schools were among the grant recipients: Browning Middle School and Two Eagle River High School in Pablo.

However, Box Elder is the only school district where all students K-12 get a tablet device.

Box Elder School Superintendent Tom Peck was unable to give an exact figure but said the grant was about $1.3 million.

Under the grant, all students received an iPad 2 Air for use on school property, pre-educators got an iPad Mini 4 and all teachers received a Mini iPad 4 as well as a MacBook Air.

In all, the school received 418 iPads, plus 48 for any growth in the student body in the near future.

The iPads were unveiled Tuesday morning, during an assembly in the school gymnasium that was part pep rally and part rave.

From seniors on down, students in every grade filed one by one into the gymnasium and subsequently onto the bleachers.

With pools of multi-colored party lights moving across the wall and the thunder of dance music being pumped through the speakers, students and staff exchanged high-fives and danced.

Staff members wore neon green T-shirts, as they stood in corners with their new devices recording the event for viewers to watch on the school website.

"Our whole goal of this grant is to change the way we teach and change the way we learn," Peck said while speaking in front of the student body in the gymnasium. "And with this grant, I know it's going to happen."

MacDonald told the students the iPads will be a valuable teaching tool.

"One of Apple's things is to think different, and that is what we want," MacDonald said. "We want kids who are coming out of our school system that have critical thinking skills, that have problem-solving skills, that are ready to go out and have a positive impact on the world."

MacDonald said he wants all seniors to use their iPads to make a video about what it takes to finish high school.

The day was two years in the making for the small rural school.

Travis Baumann, the school's IT director, played a large role in applying for the grant, a process he said was quite lengthy.

He said the school first received the paperwork in June 2014. He, along with then-Superintendent Darrin Hannum and former grade school principal Mark Irvin, began pursuing the grant.

Baumann said they had to fill out paperwork stating their goals for the grant.

After learning they would be getting the grant, Baumann said, they took representatives from Apple on a walk-through of the school. Then the school officials had to put the infrastructure in place.

Baumann said Apple also provided a wireless network, setting up 53 additional access points in the school, where there were previously only 12. As a result, there is now wireless Internet access in every classroom.

"Apple paid a company to come in and do all of that work," Baumann said. "But we had to prep stuff so they could come in and do that."

The grant will provide instruction to teachers and lesson plans on how to effectively use the iPads as a classroom resource.

Teachers will be able to download apps appropriate for each class.

Baumann said that, beyond content, the iPads will hopefully allow students to navigate the Web more efficiently and become smarter "digital citizens."

He said few adults have experience growing up in the digital age. Back when they were young, potentially embarrassing notes were passed on pencil and paper.

Now in the age of social media and the Internet, and with many more people having access to that information, people have to be careful.

Baumann said ensuring that students learn to be more careful in what they post and how they share information will be one of the goals going forward.

 

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