OREM -- After working tirelessly for months to raise money for a new computer lab, parents at Orem Elementary are finally being rewarded.
It was announced Wednesday the school is being given $100,000 grant from Target. Orem Elementary was one of 48 schools and two school districts throughout the country and the only school in Utah to receive the award.
The money will be used to furnish a second computer lab at the school.
"This is more money than we ever imagined," principal Rachelle Bolingbroke said. "We will be able to upgrade technology in classrooms as well, get new projectors, smart boards and iPads. These are things we have none or very few of so it is exciting to be able to bring that technology to our school."
Currently the school has only one computer lab, which serves more than 700 students. The application to Target was submitted after parents tried and failed to get enough votes to win a $50,000 grant from Clorox in December.
Julie Hale wrote the winning submission for the Target grant.
"I wouldn't have submitted if it wasn't for the energy of the PTA and dedicated parents that were trying so hard to get $50,000 from Clorox," Hale said. "I felt their passion and kind of took it on."
Hale says her submission included details about the school narrowly missing the cutoff to be a Title I school.
"I just said many so-called poor schools have much better technology than us because they receive federal money, and we have to raise our own," Hale said.
Hale also included a photo of the space designated for the new computer lab that currently is sitting empty.
A spokeswoman for Target says Title I eligibility is one of the many components the selection team took into considerations when choosing the winners.
"We looked at what the unique needs of each school were and truly focused on how we could help meet those needs," Jill Hornbacher said. "We here at Target have a long-standing commitment to education and are happy to be able to support these schools in this way and be able to improve their learning environments."
Hornbacher says more than 7,000 nominations for the grants were received.
Bolingbroke says the new computer lab will help the school meet state testing requirements as well as provide learning opportunities for students.
"The way technology is moving there is so much available to students, education wise, on the computer," she said. "This will really benefit our students."
Bolingbroke says she doesn't know when the school will actually receive the money but hopes the new computer lab will be in place before the end of the school year.
Posted in Orem, Precollegiate, Paige-fieldsted on Thursday, January 26, 2012 3:48 pm Updated: 4:00 pm. | Tags: Orem, Rachelle Bolingbroke, Julie Hale, Orem Elementary, Target
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