Last Thursday the ITSRG staff had the pleasure of attending a reception with Sen. Tartaglione at Sheppard Elementary School.
The Sheppard Parent Empowerment Project has been funded by a PA Department of Education grant that enables all of the third and fourth grader students and their families at Sheppard to receive a new i-Mac, digital cameras and free Internet access in their homes. Sen. Tartaglione was instrumental in helping the Parent Project to gain the funding needed to support the program.
In addition to free computers, the families have been receiving extensive computer training as part of the program. Six ITSRG students: Brendan Conlin, Britney Smith, Erin Cusack. Greg Sykes, Brader Jimenez and Lily Zdravkovic have worked as Spanish-speaking computer trainers for the program.
The Six ITSRG students have assisted with home visits to families, helped run the weekly training workshops and provided phone support to families.
Thursday's event was exciting for our staff to see how thrilled the families and children were with their computers. Over a 100 people turned out to thank Sen. Tartaglione for her assistance with the program.
Next year, the hope is that all incoming third-graders will receive computers for their families.
See more photos from Thursday's event HERE.
Originally Posted on 4/25/08.
Caroline Guigar
Temple University