Grant helps enhance education

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Emery Telcom and the Foundation for Rural Education and Development awarded a $10,000 cash grant to Ferron Elementary on Oct. 18. Emery Telcom’s president Paul Crawford presented the award to the school’s principal Jed Jensen. Ferron Elementary was one of eight successful applicants in the nation.
Emery Telcom has a history of supporting the local area schools, students and the community.Each year Emery Telcom provides approximately $40,000 to local students and schools through the Education Initiative Program established in 1998. Greg Killpack, General Manager of Emery Telcom added, “Programs like FRED offer another avenue to support our communities. Our company and employees are involved in local organizations such as the Chamber of Commerce, Economic Development and some serve as EMTs.” He added, “Emery Telcom places a great deal of importance on supporting our community.”
In 1989, the Organization for the Promotion and Advancement of Small Telecommunications Companies, created the FRED to address the educational and developmental needs of rural areas. The Foundation’s mission is to sponsor programs and activities that improve the educational, social, and economic conditions of rural areas.
Principal Jensen said they will be using the grant money to purchase head sets for each of the teachers. “The teacher wears the head set around her neck and it has a microphone on it which is connected to four speakers in each corner of the room. These help the students who are hard of hearing to understand the teacher better. There was a real need to have these in the classrooms and we were trying to find a way to finance them. We thought maybe we could add one a year, but then this opportunity came up and we can do them all this year with this grant money.
“This saves the teacher’s voice and saves on the amount of time teachers spend out of the classroom with sick days. Research shows that if a student is beyond six-eight feet away from the teacher that they will have trouble hearing instructions. This system will help to enhance student learning and save strain. The kids will pay more attention in class.
“We will put the bids out and as soon as we have them back and the paperwork and processing done they will be installed, hopefully by the end of November. We’re really excited about this and we appreciate all that Emery Telcom does for the schools in our county,” said Principal Jensen.
Emery Telcom is a member of OPASTCO and a participant in FRED.