Buzz’s Mobil Helps Middle Gate Secure Grant

Gary and Laura Buzzanca, of Buzz’s Mobil, 286 South Main Street, worked with school officials to secure a $500 educational grant for Middle Gate School. It is one of 4,000 grants available to schools across the country served by Exxon or Mobil stations. The grants were made possible by funding from the ExxonMobil Corporation.

For ten years, Mr and Mrs Buzzanca have worked with Middle Gate personnel to write the grants. Some of the items purchased with the grant money in the past include a digital camera and microscopes for the science room.

The ExxonMobil Educational Alliance program is designed to provide Exxon and Mobil retailers with an opportunity to invest in the future of their communities through educational grants to neighborhood schools.

“We were delighted to work with school officials to secure the $500 educational grant,” said Mr Buzzanca. “We continue to be impressed Middle Gate’s efforts to integrate technology into the everyday lives of our children.”

The grant money will be applied to purchase a second SMART Board. The school has a SMART Board in its science room. Lead teacher Judy Beers supplied the following information about the SMART Board.

The SMART Board is a device that connects to the classroom computer and projector to display a computer image providing a whiteboard for interactive lessons. The teacher or student can control the software application with a finger just like using the computer mouse. Students and teachers can write directly on the whiteboard in “digital ink” using a pen from the SMART pen tray or with a finger. They can also use the on-screen keyboard to input responses and are able to save work to share later.

Some of the advantages of having SMART Boards in our schools are:

éThousands of lesson activities, as well as research studies, professional development information and advice for teachers using technology, are available online.

éSMART and the SMARTer Kids Foundation offer a variety of programs in which both students and educators can participate.

éSMART technology has the ability to record everything the user does on the interactive whiteboard and play it back later. It also has a recording feature and the ability to write over moving video. This lets the user create and interact with multimedia using the interactive whiteboard.

éSMART Board software lets the student or teacher save handwritten notes into PowerPoint, Word, and Excel software.

éThe whiteboarding software allows the user the flexibility to edit, organize, and move work easily within the program in which the notes were created, without a third-party application.

“As you can see this new technology, which is now available to all Middle Gate students when they come to our science/math room, is an exciting support to our goal for continuous improvement,” Mrs Beers said. “Thank you again to the Buzzanca family and the Mobil Oil Corporation for helping to make our next SMART Board a reality.”