A North Philadelphia Public School Wins KYW Newsradio's Latest 10-Laptop Computer Lab
By Steve Tawa
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A North Philadelphia grade school has more computer lab space for its young students, thanks to a partnership between KYW Newsradio 1060 and Comcast Corporation.
When seventh-grade teacher Cori Frede (far right in photo) won a KYW Newsradio contest for a laptop computer last fall, more good things happened after she was asked to nominate a school for the follow-up giveaway of an entire computer lab.
"And the first thing I said out of my mouth was, can I nominate where I work?" she recalls.
Frede, a math and science teacher at Tanner Duckrey School, a K-8 public school at 15th and Diamond Streets, knows that many of her students don't have the basic equipment at home needed to complete some of the homework:
"I tried to give assignments on the computer at the beginning of the year, and I would get letters back from parents saying, 'Dear Ms. Frede, my child cannot do the homework because they don't have a computer.' "
Knowing that children can succeed when they have Internet access, Comcast's Sharon Powell says that's why the Philadelphia-based company has an "Internet Essentials" campaign offering low-cost broadband access to low-income households.
"This is where we give families a chance to have Internet in the home for $9.95 (per month), and the price never changes," she says.
Today, students at the school were delighted their school had been chosen to receive the lab of ten laptops.
"It's nice to have people give us computers; we can't afford them sometimes," acknowledged one young woman.
"I want to do subjects on the computer and do projects," said a classmate.
"It's important, so we can learn new stuff," said a third.