September 28, 2005
Grants connect club
Boys and Girls Club Technology Center features 10 laptops
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
Typing "blue poison frog" into Google Friday afternoon, Elysia, 12, used a laptop in the Boys and Girls Club of Grand Traverse's Technology Center to do some homework.
The seventh grade student at West Junior High School was researching a project for science class and printed out relevant information on a laser printer. Previously Elysia had used one of the 10 laptops in the center to find a photo of J.K. Rowling for a report she was writing for language arts.
"I pretty much use them every time I come here," said Elysia. "I have to do a poster on the kingdom, phylum, order, family and species of an animal and I picked the blue poison frog."
On a typical afternoon this fall, the Technology Center draws in many of the 35-45 students a day who come to the Boys and Girls Club after school. There, they play games or do homework in between the many other activities offered at the facility.
"They're fun because we can go on the Internet and sometimes we use them for homework," said Sam, 12.
Robin Buchner, program director for the club, noted that the club is drawing up plans for training and other focused learning. For now, though, they have been letting club members explore and learn on their own.
"There's a lot of structure we have in mind but right now we've just been letting them go with it," she said.
The club received two grants for the center this year: a $25,000 grant from the Beaumont Foundation for the equipment and a $15,000 from Microsoft Corporation. The center is part of a nationwide program among Boys and Girls Clubs to provide their 3.6 million members with the technology and training to succeed in the digital era.
A non-profit philanthropic foundation, the Beaumont Foundation is providing $8 million in Toshiba equipment to Boys and Girls Clubs around the country. This initiative, dubbed Operation Connect, is geared to making club members as well as staff literate in both computers and the Internet.
Microsoft partnered with the Boys and Girls Clubs of America to create Club Tech, which provides a range of software for free. Programs available include Netsmartz, Microsoft Professional Office, Career Launch, Animate your World, Digital Arts Suite and Teen Tech Team. The five-year program will provide $100 million in software, curricula, program management and training for staff and club members around the country.
Local volunteers helped set up the Technology Center and staff are learning how to use it themselves.
"I think this offers so much for us to give the kids," said Buchner. "We could do digital art and digital photography because digital cameras came with it, too."
The room is set up with three laptops on each of three donated tables. Each unit is locked in place on the table and the club also has a locking storage cabinet to hold all the laptops. One laptop is at the center's main desk and is linked to an overhead projector that will facilitate software demonstrations or other lessons.
The club also plans to open the Technology Center during Family Nights, which will be held on Thursday evenings beginning tomorrow. These outreach evenings bring parents of club members to the facility for activities and fun as a family. Buchner noted that having kids demonstrate and teach their parents the new technology and software is one of the Technology Center's goals.
"It's really hard when your kids are surpassing you," she said. "We want to invite families to come in and learn together."