Best Buy Awards Funds to Schools for Creative Use of Interactive Technology

Best Buy, Minneapolis, has awarded funds to 1,167 schools, serving more than 434,000 students across the United States, through its te@ch program. Te@ch annually recognizes and rewards schools across the United States with $2,500 gifts for the creative integration of interactive technology into classrooms, making learning more fun and engaging for students. The total amount awarded is more than $3 million.

"We believe we can help build stronger communities by supporting kids and learning," said Paula Prahl, vice president of public affairs for Best Buy. "Te@ch awards schools and teachers for using technology to make their curriculum and their classrooms come alive."

Winning applications came from a variety of classrooms, including kindergarten teachers, those teaching advanced classes for high-school seniors and those teaching special education for kids with developmental disabilities. Winners applied interactive technology to a broad span of subject matters including social studies, science and English.

For example, at John Bapst Memorial High School (Bangor, Maine) seniors studying physics used video cameras to record real-life motion of objects and then applied software to analyze the motions and create mathematical models. And, after second graders at Janney Elementary School (Washington, D.C.), learned about Hurricane Ivan's destruction of a grassroots chocolate factory in Grenada, they researched the chocolate-making process and published their findings in a book using interactive software.

Prahl said, "Te@ch links learning and interactive technology in classrooms to make learning more fun for kids. The more excited and involved students are in their education, the more they'll learn."

For a complete listing of winning schools, go to Best Buy’s Web site.

Applications for te@ch awards are accepted from July through September. All accredited, public and private nonprofit elementary, middle and secondary schools located within 25 miles of a Best Buy store are eligible. Each year, Best Buy commits $3 million to schools across the nation to enhance interactive technology programs through te@ch. For more details about the te@ch awards, please visit www.BestBuy.com/teach. Applications for the next round of te@ch are scheduled to be available July 5, 2005 and will be due September 30, 2005.