CenturyLink Wyoming

PAINTBRUSH ELEMENTARY TEACHER WINS $8,000 GRANT FROM QWEST FOUNDATION AND WYOMING DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

"Environmental Projects" Program Will Bring Web 2.0 Technologies to Fifth and Sixth Graders

GILLETTE, WYO., April 14, 2008—The CenturyLink Foundation and the Wyoming Department of Education today announced that Paintbrush Elementary teacher Deb Lanthier has won $8,000 in the CenturyLink Teachers and Technology grant program.

Lanthier plans to use the grant money to facilitate environmental-impact projects, the results of which her fifth- and sixth-grade students will share with students across Wyoming and around the country. Students will communicate their findings using Web 2.0 technologies, including wikis, blogs, vokis, podcasts and movies, and will host a presentation about their project at the Gillette Public Library in 2009.

"Deb’s commitment to her students is inspiring,” said Dave Olsen, Paintbrush Elementary principal. “She motivates them to learn new subjects in new ways, and this grant from CenturyLink will help further our students’ successes.”

Beginning in September, about 120 of Lanthier’s students will brainstorm and select an environmental issue for the project’s focus; participate in the research; and understand the effect the project has on the local environment. The CenturyLink Foundation grant will cover the costs of computers and iPod nanos, as well as other hardware and software so students can create and share their information using a variety of Web 2.0 technologies.

“Through this project, students will use technology to build not only academic skills, but critical-thinking and real-world experience as well,” said Mike Ceballos, CenturyLink president of Wyoming. “CenturyLink congratulates Deb on her creative, innovative methods to incorporate technology into her classroom.”

Ceballos and Olsen will surprise Lanthier with her $8,000 grant check during an assembly at Paintbrush Elementary on April 14, 2008, at 2:30 p.m. MDT.

The objectives of the CenturyLink Teachers and Technology grant program are to improve student achievement through the use of today’s technology; build a real-world team problem-solving environment; and set the groundwork for future technology integration projects. Through a competitive process administered by the Wyoming Department of Education, the CenturyLink Foundation provided a total of $25,000 to be awarded to three educators whose innovative ideas to incorporate technology into their classrooms would help improve education.