FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contacts:
Vicki Hudson, GRCC, 616.234.4206
Joe Steele, AT&T, 313.223.9759.
GRCC and AT & T CONNECT TO CLOSE DIGITAL GAP
AT&T Grants GRCC $25,000 to Improve Students’ Access to Information
February 15, 2008 Grand Rapids, MI - There was a clear connection between GRCC’s need to improve information access for disadvantaged students and AT&T’s desire to reach out and help members of this community. On Thursday, February 21, at 2:30 PM at the Applied Technology Center, AT&T officials will present GRCC President Juan Olivarez a check for $25,000 at a special award ceremony planned for AT&T and GRCC employees at GRCC’s Applied Technology Center.
“Our company takes pride in supporting their communities we serve,” said John Swartz, AT&T spokesperson. “We are thrilled to be able to support GRCC and its students in the Grand Rapids area.”
GRCC sought the grant to reduce what has become known as the Digital Gap, meaning access issues presented to people who can not afford all the technology that is becoming standard on college campuses everywhere.
“We at GRCC know that student success in higher education takes more than a
class and an instructor,” said Olivarez. “They need support services that
dovetail with their studies and their personal needs. And they need access to
the same technology that is so much a part of our everyday world now.”
GRCC went to AT&T with two very specific goals:
- To see that 75 disadvantaged students currently receiving Student Support Services program will have increased access to counseling and mentoring support through the use of an iPod touch (or equivalent) device to enhance their life skills, information management/communications skills and critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
- Up to 250 students will have increased access to wireless laptop computers for educational course work, research and access to internet resources.
Peer Mentors and professional staff at GRCC will also be trained to use the iPod device and will then teach students how to access email, podcast classes, audio books, on-line student services, library and information resources, and the college’s Blackboard learning management system.
“Think about it,” said Swartz. “How many times a day do you go on the internet to find information or to communicate. That resource is essential to today’s learner and it should be available to all.”
GRCC has been offering affordable, excellent college-level education for 94 years. Over 15,000 students are currently being served at GRCC’s Downtown and Lakeshore campuses.
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