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OREM — An Orem elementary school raised $360,000 in five weeks to provide each of its students with a computer.
The fundraising success was only possible after community members and local business owners donated "so much it hurt," said Foothill Elementary School Principal Joseph Backman.
The principal originally challenged Foothill to raise $60,000 to $70,000 within five years to buy one computer for every four students in the classroom — significantly higher than the 28 total computers at the school.
When PTA President Lisa Oliver approached parent and business owner Todd Pedersen about the goal, he was dissatisfied.
"I told Lisa, 'That's a joke,'" Pedersen said. "We have 620 students, and we are basically going to end up with two computer labs. Let's think bigger than that."
Oliver and Pedersen determined the school would need $300,000 to supply each student with a computer. Pedersen, founder of Vivint Inc., agreed to match the funds the school raised — if they raised more than $150,000 in 30 days.
The school raised more than $40,000 from its fall festival — the highest total ever at the event — but it was still only a dent in the total needed, Oliver said. Later, students participated in individual fundraisers, more than a dozen businesses donated money, and teachers wrote petitions for grant money.
"Everyone got really excited when they realized that this was actually attainable," Oliver said. "Somehow the funds kept coming in."
The PTA raised $180,000, which Pedersen matched. Two giant checks were presented to Backman in a celebration assembly Tuesday. Foothill teachers will receive training as soon as possible, and some classes will receive tablets or personal computers by the end of the year, the principal said.
"What I want everyone to know is that it's not the devices that matter, really," Backman said. "It is the student learning that will be accelerated through technology that matters."
Fifth-grader Lindsey Brown said she believes the computers will help students, particularly with typing and computerized tests.
"Computers could be used for good things or the bad things, but computers in school will help me to learn to use them for the good things," she said.
Foothill is not the only school in the state to initiate technological availability in the classroom. Since 2011, every student in the Wasatch School District from third through 12th grades has been given an electronic device, such as a laptop, to use in the classroom.
Utah educators for years have tried to get such an initiative to move forward statewide. Proposed during the 2015 Legislature, SB222 would have made $75 million available to help schools develop infrastructure, train teachers and put a device into the hands of every student.
That bill failed, but the Legislature did, however, approve a substitute bill to spend $5 million on an inventory of Utah's current technology needs and what forms of curriculum would be acceptable for the classroom.
Backman said he hopes Foothill can learn from the Wasatch School District and provide a good prototype for other schools.
Tori Jorgensen is a Deseret News intern and current communications major at Southern Utah University. Find her on Twitter @TORIAjorgensen Email: vjorgensen@deseretnews.com
