Program Computes For Area Schools

Susan Crawford, a teacher and technology coordinator for Big Sandy school district, and Craig Coker, who works in the Livingston school district's distribution center, (second and third from left) accepted 30 refurbished computers on behalf of their schools on Monday morning. With them are (from left) Property coordinator Wayne Frosch, computer science lecturer Li-Jen Shannon and department chair Peter Cooper.

This Thanksgiving, two area school districts have a little something extra to be thankful for.

Working to fulfill a need for computers at the Big Sandy and the Livingston school districts, the SHSU computer science department donated a total of 30 refurbished computers to the districts on Monday (Nov. 20).

"For most small schools, we pretty much depend on donations from industries and places like Sam Houston," said Susan Crawford, a teacher and technology coordinator for the Big Sandy school district, which is a 1-A district.

The systems were refurbished by members from the Sam Houston Association of Computer Scientists, using discarded university equipment, and are given to schools that have a need for the computers, according to computer science lecturer Li-Jen Shannon.

The annual program is part of the student organization’s community outreach project and also falls in line with the mission of SHSU’s American Democracy Project, of which computer science department chair Peter Cooper is a member, he said.

“It benefits us in the sense that it helps our students learn,” Cooper said. “Most of that time (spent working on the computers during the semester) was getting the students to the point where they understood what they were doing before they built these machines.

“It benefits the university because it gives us another connection with the school districts, but it also benefits the school districts because they can target their technology funds to additional areas and not have to worry about these particular machines,” he said.

Over the past three years, the computer science department and SHACS have donated six computers to Livingston, four to Shepherd school districts and 15 computers to Big Sandy.

The 15 computers initially received by Big Sandy school district allowed for one computer to be placed in every elementary classroom and have been used for learning games, the Internet and accelerated math and reading programs, Crawford said.

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SHSU Media Contact: Jennifer Gauntt
Nov. 20, 2006
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