By Leslie Collins
Northeast News
May 18, 2011

“They just showered this school with all these blessings,” Whittier Elementary School Principal Adrain Howard said of EWI.

Not only did EWI donate three SMART Boards (interactive white boards), three LCD projectors, one digital camera and three Elmo document cameras to the second grade classes, the organization also hosted a Reading Rally in September that collected 3,000 books for Whittier Elementary.

EWI, a networking and leadership development organization for business professionals, focuses on literacy and learning as its primary philanthropic causes.

“It’s part of the mission of our organization,” said EWI member and former Corporate Reading Rally Chairman Joan Routh.

Each year EWI hosts its annual conference in a different city and state. For each host city, the organization chooses a school to give back to.

“We always try to target a school that’s the most needy,” Routh said.

This year’s conference was held in Kansas City and when Routh called the Kansas City Missouri School Board of Education for school suggestions, the board named Whittier as a school in need.

“We went to the visit the school, took a tour and were impressed with the teachers and staff. We decided that’s where we were going to spend our money,” she said.

Following the Reading Rally, Whittier used the book donations to give five to six books to each student to take home.

During the annual conference, EWI invited the second graders to a luncheon and challenged the students to read “The Library Mouse.”

EWI also hosted a writing contest and second grade teachers picked a winner from each of the three classes.

“They did so well in reading and their writing entries. There was so much talent,” Routh said.

Earlier this month, Whittier Elementary received additional SMART Boards, LCD projectors and Elmo document cameras from EWI, enough for every second grade classroom. The electronic equipment donations totaled $7,500.

“We can do webinars now. We can maybe have a sister classroom in Seattle and the kids can see each other,” Howard said. “The technology just gives you an advantage. It’s 21st Century…

“There’s just so many things you can do with a SMART Board and we’ve just barely scratched the surface.”

Second grade teachers scratched the surface a little more May 10 and demonstrated their new equipment. During the tech-savvy lesson, second graders learned about the earth and recycling. With the Elmo document camera, they could view a textbook projected on a screen and the teacher could zoom in on text and pictures. Students also used a laptop connected to the SMART Board to type in ways to recycle.

“I think everybody just thought it was great watching the kids’ faces at the school,” said EWI Kansas City Chapter President Renee Danforth-Mulka, who watched the lesson with other EWI members. “It was so deserving everything we got for them.”

Using technology like SMART Boards enhances a child’s learning experience, Howard said. Teachers can connect a SMART Board to Google or download a lesson from Brain Honey and project it on the board, he said.

“They (teachers) can put math problems on the board and the kids can click on the right answer. There are a lot of ways to utilize that stuff… Our educators and students needed the equipment and reading supplies. These will help for many years to come.”

Above, a high tech way to learn. Debra McGill, second grade teacher at Whittier Elementary School, uses the new Elmo document camera and SMART Board to teach her students about the earth and recycling. Leslie Collins