$50,000 given to three local schools from the Cellcom project

(December 2, 2011) –Xavier High School was announced as the winner of Cellcom’s Project Innovate today. The school will receive $30,000 from Cellcom for the purchase of classroom technology. In October, Cellcom invited 16 public and private high schools in the Fox Cities to participate in the community voting challenge; nine schools chose to participate.

Appleton West High School took second place in Project Innovate and will receive $15,000. In third place, receiving $5,000, was Neenah High School. Each of the remaining schools that participated in the challenge will receive a Motorola Xoom™ tablet for classroom use.

“As a committed advocate for youth, education and technology, Cellcom was extremely proud to bring Project Innovate to the Fox Cities in 2011,” said Brighid Riordan, director of public affairs at Cellcom. “The major objective for this community voting program was to bring the latest in classroom technology to our local schools. As a company, we believe that providing these tools to teachers and students will inspire innovation and increase academic achievement.”

The top three schools can use their prize money to equip classrooms with technology such as interactive white boards, LCD projectors, laptops, net books or tablets, software for games or virtual simulations, digital media tools or other resources to advance learning. Project Innovate winners were determined by the number of qualified votes cast for each school during the month-long voting period, October 24 – November 22.

The community voting program hinged on schools mobilizing their supporters. To be successful in Project Innovate, schools had to tell as many people as they could to vote and be creative in rallying supporters. Despite Xavier having only about one-third of the number of students as compared to many of its competitors in the challenge, the school demonstrated how collaboration allowed it to be successful. 

Cellcom’s renowned network is customized to rural markets and customers. Cellcom is a subsidiary of Nsight, a provider of communications services throughout Wisconsin and Michigan, with more than 70 retail and agent locations. For more information visit www.cellcom.com.