Students at The Boyce Ansley School downtown face a variety of challenges, but one of the most critical is that all of the 93 youngsters in kindergarten through fifth grade are homeless. Since opening in 2018, the school’s mission has been to provide its families with tuition-free educational programs and support systems to break the cycle.
Making that breakthrough is even tougher in a world where technology dominates education and the workforce, said Head of School Ray James.
“Our kiddos usually don’t live in homes where they have access to the internet,” he said. “We do have some chrome books on campus that were purchased three years ago. We’ve also been using iPads, but that’s not the same as a computer.”
But after an event last week hosted and sponsored by Comcast, each of Ansley’s students now has a laptop. And it came with lessons about the Olympics. The day came together after James was approached by Mike McArdle, the senior vice president of Comcast’s southern region, about hosting an event where students could learn about the games.
“We are always looking for ways to engage the community we serve and, at the same time, bridge the digital divide,” he said. “When our team learned about this school, we thought it would be great to join forces while the Olympics are going on.”
Comcast, which is also an official partner of Team USA through 2028, chartered two tour buses to shuttle the Ansley student body to the Girls Inc. facility in Marietta, where the youngsters learned about the Games and watched Olympic highlights.
“Growing up, I didn’t understand what the Olympics were, and they only came around four years,” said James. “When they come around again, some of our students won’t be in our school. We just started back on Aug. 1, so it was early in the early for a field trip, but I thought it was a cool idea around something that only happens every four years.”
The students took part in their own scaled-down sports events, including basketball, sack races, cornhole and more. Comcast brought in lunch and arranged for the Hawks’ mascot, Harry the Hawk, to give them a pep talk. The highlight was the presentation of a laptop to each student.
Beyond having a day of the fun, James said receiving the laptops is an educational game changer.
“A lot of our kiddos get to upper elementary and middle school without knowing how to type or leverage a keyboard,” he said. “Because they haven’t had that practice, they struggle on tests. It will be hard for them to complete college or job applications. When you think of all the ways our world is connected now, and who has access to technology and can leverage it, bridging that digital divide is the future of the haves and the have-nots.”
Information about the Boyce Ansley School is online at theansleyschool.org.
MAKING THE GRADE
SEND US YOUR STORIES. Each week we look at programs, projects and successful endeavors at area schools, from pre-K to grad school. To suggest a story, contact H.M. Cauley at hm_cauley@yahoo.com or 770-744-3042.
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