Education is a strong focus of HP’s Local Citizenship Committee in Quebec. Donations of equipment and software are having a measurable impact on the education of some underserved school children.
“HP Canada’s focus on supporting education initiatives is so important in Quebec, since many schools do not receive adequate funding for computer hardware and supplies,” says Melanie Bouchard, chair of HP’s Local Citizenship Committee in Montreal. “With our donations in the past couple of years, we have seen some major benefits both for teachers and students in some Montreal schools.”
When she is not volunteering with the citizenship committee, Melanie, a seven-year HP Canada employee, works in Human Resources Operations (Canada-wide) from her base in Montreal.
“We receive many applications, but this year the committee decided to focus all our efforts on six underserved schools in the Montreal-area,” she says. The committee put together packages of equipment that typically included several PCs, monitors, digital cameras and printers.
“Royal Oak School in Saint-Hubert is a good example of how we used our resources,” says Melanie. “It’s small school, so it gets proportionately less money for things like computers, because the government money is allocated on a per capita basis. And they have a much higher proportion of special needs students, about 25 per cent. The provincial average is about 14 per cent. So they made a request to (philanthropy manager) Ellen Gardner through the HP website, and we were happy to give them seven PCs and a camera.”
Another school in Saint-Hubert received a similar donation, thanks to a request from Jefferson Avendano, an employee in HP’s customer response centre in Montreal. Jefferson’s wife is a teacher at École Quatre Saisons, another small school that is now benefiting from HP’s philanthropy program.
Appreciative students from James Lyng High School in Montreal’s “Little Burgundy” area recently put on a presentation of their new computer skills for Melanie and some fellow HP employees.
“The school is in an area that is underserved in many ways,” says Melanie. “So it literally gave me shivers when I saw what they were doing with the equipment we’d given them.” James Lyng now has a fully equipped computer lab and so the students work totally in synch with the teacher who is at the front using SmartBoard technology.
“It’s really amazing what a difference something like this can make,” says Melanie. “The kids are so enthusiastic, they’re booking extra time after school on the computers.”
Formula 1 race car driver Mark Webber presented HP Canada’s gift of technology to students at the Mackay Center School in June. Webber visited the school, which serves children with both physical and learning disabilities, prior to racing in the Canadian Grand Prix.
“The kids were thrilled that a race car driver came to their school, which isn’t something that happens very often,” says Melanie. “But more importantly, they also were the recipients of the Technology for Teaching grant with a value of approximately $41,000. This equipment will go a long way in assisting a team of teachers at the school develop math programs for children with language disabilities.”
(Other members of the Montreal Citizenship Committee include: Nadine Labat, Micheline Martin, Richard Tétreault, Angelo D’Amore)
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