The Kinder Morgan Foundation donated $4,500 to Barriere Elementary (BES) last week.
Len Zenner, a Supervisor of Operations for Kinder Morgan, and Jason Turner, an Environmental, Health and Safety Coordinator for the company, delivered the cheque to the school on Wednesday, Feb. 15.
“This new technology will improve the school’s access to information,” said Zenner, “We’re excited that we can help the students reach out and connect with many new resources.”
School principal Phil Janicki stated the school is very excited to be able to add a SMART Board to its library.
“We have eight SMART Boards in our classrooms, they don’t all have one but we are getting there,” said Janicki, “This technology brings the world to our classrooms, and now our library.”
Janicki explained that the SMART Board incorporates a small unit that is placed on the ceiling, which when activated from the teachers computer, produces what is seen on the computer screen onto the SMART Board; which replaces one of the large blackboards in the classrooms.
“You can even write directly onto the SMART Board,” said Janicki.
Just like a blackboard, you can erase what has been written when the lesson is over. The board is also extremly tough, and does not seem to damage easily.
“You can hit it, or bounce a ball off it,” said one of the students.
Janicki also explained that whatever is accessed from the internet, including Skype, can be shown on the SMART Board.
“This is a tremendous way to assist our teaching staff in preparing the day’s lessons; calendars, seasonal themes, can all be accessed instantly, instead of having have to be prepared each day by hand.”
He noted that one teacher told him the SMART Board saves her 100 hours in preparation time during a school year.
The students at BES all voiced their enthusiasm for the technology that has come into their classrooms, and teacher Helen Fraser was thanked for her efforts in accessing the Kinder Morgan Foundation grant for the school.
The Kinder Morgan Foundation is a charitable organization dedicated to supporting youth in communities where Kinder Morgan operates. The organization focuses on education, arts and environmental science programs. Kinder Morgan is a leading energy company that owns an interest in or operates approximately 45,000 km of pipelines and 180 terminals in North America.
Learn more about the Kinder Morgan Foundation, contact Maureen Bulkley at (303) 763-3471 or visit www.kindermorgan.com.