Three Northern Idaho School Teachers win $26,000 in Grants from the CenturyLink Foundation for Innovative Technology Projects

Students in Troy will be composing, creating, performing and recording music. In Deary, students will engage robotics to improve math, science and technology studies.  And in Potlatch, Jr-Sr High students will be experiencing hands-on, authentic aerospace activities that include building rockets and scientific balloons.

Three Northern Idaho teachers are among 12 statewide winners who are recipients of the   CenturyLink “Innovative Uses of Technology in Education” Grant Program which is now in its eighth year.  The program began after a statewide evaluation of technology in public schools in 2003 found many teachers needed support in integrating technology into the curriculum.  CenturyLink, which merged with Qwest in April of last year, will provide a total of $100,000 to the twelve grant winners across Idaho this year, bringing the total over the eight years to $590,000.  CenturyLink Idaho Vice President and General Manager, Jim Schmit, will present all three teachers with their awards in their classrooms on Tuesday, Jan. 24^th.

The Troy winner is Mark Murdock, who was awarded $7,352 to purchase 4 Mac Minis, a projector and software so that Troy School District students can create, compose, perform and evaluate music in mini studios.  The Deary winner is Jan Jacobs, who received $9,594 to purchase Lego Education Robotic sets to assist Whitepine School District’s Elementary and High School students in preparing for entry into a 21^st Century workforce with a greater emphasis on technology literacy and critical thinking skills.  The Potlatch winner is Laura Wommack, who was awarded $9,254 to purchase a laptop and the necessary equipment and supplies to build, launch and recover rockets and scientific balloons with payloads.

“These teachers know and understand the important role technology can play in the classroom to help individualize instruction and raise academic achievement for every student,” Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna said. “I am grateful to CenturyLink for its continued commitment to Idaho’s teachers and students every year as they work to bring these innovative ideas to life and create the 21^st Century Classroom in every school.”

“In reviewing more than one hundred applications, we have been very impressed with the level of interest and overall excellence of the grant proposals,” Schmit said. “There are many teachers in Idaho who are doing innovative things with technology in their classrooms.  This is a great opportunity for CenturyLink to make a positive difference in students’ lives by identifying some of those teachers, recognizing them for their outstanding work, and supporting them with financial assistance to expand their use of technology even further.  From our past experience with these grants, students are genuinely excited to experience the learning opportunities provided by these teachers through their creative use of technology.”

About CenturyLink
CenturyLink is the third largest telecommunications company in the United States. The company provides broadband, voice, wireless and managed services to consumers and businesses across the country. It also offers advanced entertainment services under the CenturyLink^TM Prism^TM TV and DIRECTV brands. In addition, the company provides data, voice and managed services to enterprise, government and wholesale customers in local, national and select international markets through its high-quality advanced fiber optic network and multiple data centers. CenturyLink is recognized as a leader in the network services market by key technology industry analyst firms, and is a global leader in cloud infrastructure and hosted IT solutions for enterprises through Savvis, a CenturyLink company. CenturyLink’s customers range from Fortune 500 companies in some of the country’s largest cities to families living in rural America. Headquartered in Monroe, La., CenturyLink is an S&P 500 company and is included among the Fortune 500 list of America’s largest corporations. For more information, visit www.centurylink.com.