Sparklight® Works to Close Digital Divide for Illinois Students Through Chromebook Donation

Teenage girl using laptop for studying at home

As K-12 schools end another challenging year in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Sparklight is working to close the digital divide for students at Lincoln Elementary School in Taylorville, Illinois with the donation of Chromebooks through the company’s Chromebooks for Kids initiative.

Sparklight Senior Vice President of Technology Services Ken Johnson said that both educators and students need access to the tools and technology that will set them up for future success.

“Now more than ever, student access to computers is a necessity,” Johnson said. “By donating Chromebooks, we’re giving students in need the opportunity to use technology that will ultimately prepare them for a progressively digital workforce.”

Lincoln Elementary School Principal Kelly Millburg said that Sparklight’s Chromebook donation will serve as an additional academic tool that supplements and expands the curriculum already in place as well as offers a new way for students to interact and engage with the lessons better.

Having Chromebooks to send home with every student helps bridge the learning gap between all students by leveling the educational playing field,” Millburg said. “This technology will make learning more interactive, self-paced and collaborative allowing for multiple channels of communication between students and teachers. This communication piece is one of the most important factors for successful remote learning and receiving these Chromebooks will be part of what allows for that to happen.”

Over the past eight years, Sparklight has donated more than 2,000 Chromebooks to Title I schools in the markets it serves.

For more information about Sparklight’s Chromebook for Kids initiative and its other corporate social responsibility efforts, please visit www.sparklight.com/about/social-responsibility.