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Teachers Raise Money for Computers for Their Students

MOUNT CARMEL TOWNSHIP — Some teachers in Northumberland County took matters into their own hands when they weren’t getting money for computers. The ...

MOUNT CARMEL TOWNSHIP -- Some teachers in Northumberland County took matters into their own hands when they weren't getting money for computers. The teachers in the Mount Carmel Area School District raised over $18,000 for new Chromebooks in about a month.

Fourth grade students at Mount Carmel Area Elementary School did their science work on new Google Chromebooks Monday. The computers did not come from grant money. Instead, they came from more than a dozen teachers. Because state funding was not coming through, the teachers raised more than $18,000 for the computers on their own.

"It just happened so quickly, and it happened for so many of us so quickly that we're just so overwhelmed by everything," Ana Ditchey said.

The teachers got the fundraising idea through the Central Susquehanna Valley Intermediate Unit. They set up fundraising sites through a website and spread the word within their classrooms and communities.

"I got funded within 24 hours. I raised $2,741 for my students," Kaitlyn McGinley said.

"Within two weeks, we had Chromebooks in our classrooms, so it was amazing," Ditchey said.

Each computer costs about $250, plus licensing fees.

Since these are Google Chromebooks, google.org matched all of the donations. So say you gave $50, google.org returned the favor and gave an additional $50.

"People were donating $100 and it got matched to $200 and that was just incredible to do," McGinley said.

So far the school got 62 Chromebooks through the project.

"My students are very appreciative. We have the opportunity now for them to create Google docs. It's also enhancing their learning which is incredible. Technology is our future," McGinley said.

Some of the teachers are still raising money for new computers so the school could get even more pretty soon.

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