CenturyLink Funds LHS Computer Project

Luke Richard, Art Roybal and Principal Rocky Robbins, CenturyLink Employees at L and R.

The Lamar High School woodshop and computer design class will benefit from a CenturyLink grant of $4,832, presented to teacher Luke Richard at the high school.  The presentation was made Wednesday, June 25, by Art Roybal, Eastern Regional Supervisor for CenturyLink.

“CenturyLink is presenting about 300 grants totaling $1.4M to classroom teachers through the Clarke M. Williams Foundation’s Teachers and Technology program.  The program awards grants to schools in CenturyLink’s Local Service Areas on behalf of teachers who have developed specific plans to innovatively implement technology in their classroom.

The grants are used to drive results in the classroom.  Some teachers request equipment to help expose students to digital devices, others are looking for STEM-related robotics equipment, while others are using their resources to teach video production and editing.

The range of projects funded through this year’s grants is vast and touches many subjects, from predicting weather to tracing migratory animals.  The common theme is that the teacher must be using technology to reach their students in a new and different way or expose them to something new.  The grant winners must be in the public or private K-12 schools in a CenturyLink service area.”

Roybal said about 25 of these annual grants go to rural communities and another 25 are dedicated to metro schools, all in the neighborhood of around $5,000.  “We funded a $5,000 request for a school in Branson earlier,” he said.  Royball said the odd figure for the Lamar grant is because it directly fits the cost of the equipment Richard plans to order.

“We’re going to purchase a desk top laser cutter,” Richard explained.  He said this will be a new part of the Computer Design Class he teaches at Lamar High School.  “When we put this to work in our woodshop, we’ll be able to cut out gears and sprockets from a design the students created,” he said.  The young teacher explained that the laser cutter can be used on thin metals to etch lettering into plaques, or even to be set on a wide enough surface area, about 12 by 22 inches, to engrave wider sections of wood.  He remarked about one school project in which students designed all the elements of a medieval-type fortress built from how they imagined such a structure would be used to sustain a prolonged attack.

By Russ Baldwin