TicketNetwork today dedicated 24 computers, totaling $15,000, to the Maple Street School, an elementary school located near the company’s headquarters in Vernon, CT.
The Center for Early Computer Learning will serve the school’s 350 students and will help bring down the ratio of computers-to-children at the facility by 18 percent to 3.2 students per computer.
During a brief unveiling ceremony at the school earlier today, January 5, TicketNetwork CEO and founder Don Vaccaro thanked Principal Lois Possell, the Vernon Department of Education, the school’s IT Department, parents and volunteers who helped make the project possible.
“Everyone focused on what’s best for the students, and at the end of the day that’s what really matters in our community,” Vaccaro said. “We know that kids growing up today need IT skills. Computer science is nothing more than output of the math knowledge and English knowledge put into something that’s very visible that we can all see and relate to.”
U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney (D-CT) said that in today’s economy, investing in hardware to help children learn computer skills is essential to their development.
“I sit on the Education and Labor Committee, and it’s not for the faint of heart right now in terms of trying to address the challenges that our country faces in terms of creating a workforce that is going to be ready for the challenges that we face globally,” Courtney said.
The Maple Street School is located in one of Vernon’s more fiscally challenged neighborhoods, and town Board of Education member George Apel, who attended the Maple Street School in the 1940s, said the donation has special meaning to him.
“This is not a small contribution because in today’s economy, it’s extremely hard for [the Board of Education] to come up with the money for something like this,” Apel said. “And, the fact that it’s 24 computers is significant because our class sizes are typically 24 students, so this will allow a full class to participate at once.”
TicketNetwork CEO and founder Don Vaccaro (left) and U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney (D-CT)
(Left to right) Maple Street School Principal Lois Possell; U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney (D-CT); TicketNetwork’s Gene Ambeau; Don Vaccaro; TicketNetwork’s Dan Pullium
