April 10, 2019 | Lake Charles, Louisiana, USA
Mitzi Vincent teaches 6th grade science at the largest middle school in the state of Louisiana. S.J. Welsh Middle School, in the heart of Lake Charles, serves more than 1,300 students of mixed abilities, special needs, cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds. As a non-Title 1 school, teachers have to get creative in order to find funding. They rely on donations, fundraisers and grants to give their students the very best education and access to technology that they can.
Mitzi is a prime example of a passionate and tenacious teacher facing these funding challenges head-on. When she first stepped into the classroom she currently occupies, she got to work. The technology was limited and what they had was dated, so she wrote and received a grant for 1:1 iPads for her students.
After integrating tablet use into her curriculum she quickly realised their 12-year-old building wasn’t set up with tech in mind, and even with a fairly large space, science supplies seemed to have a way of filling it up. That’s when Mitzi decided there had to be a better solution to charging her new fleet of iPads than the power strips she’d spread throughout the classroom.
Being the resourceful go-getter she is, Mitzi visited the Calcasieu Parish school district’s tech centre looking for some expertise on charging and device management options. Out of that visit came the perfect opportunity. She became a part of the centre’s pilot program for LocknCharge Putnam 16 Charging Stations™. In exchange for using the iPad charging station on a daily basis, she’d give them her feedback–does it work well, is it convenient, any issues to report, etc.
Mitzi brought the Putnam back to her classroom, plugged it in and was ready to roll. “I have a motto that if something takes more than three major steps it is not going to happen,” she said. The Putnam and its easy setup passed her first test with flying colors.
The small footprint and efficiency of charging 16 devices with just one outlet sealed the deal. Plus, with a color-coded LED charging status display, the Putnam made it simple to see which iPads were fully charged and ready. Students are now able to easily help themselves, so Mitzi can spend more of her time teaching and less time tracking down and distributing devices. She also appreciates the fact that she can lock them all up with a combination or the override key that she holds onto.
Looking ahead (as Mitzi tends to do), she wants to write a grant for a second Putnam 16 so that she can accommodate more iPads. As she continues to expand and upgrade her classroom technology, she has her eyes on other LocknCharge products, too. The laptop charging Carts that offer more capacity, and perhaps even the Sphero Charging Case for her new girls robotics class.
For schools with limited funding, it can certainly be tough to keep up with technology. However, the same can be said about teachers like Mitzi. On behalf of LocknCharge, thank you for all that you do.