Joe Bode, the college’s senior stores clerk, made a special stop during his recent vacation motor tour that took him to Washington, DC (on July 4), Memphis, New Orleans, Atlanta, Charleston, SC and Virginia Beach.
The special stop was at the Aurora Collegiate Academy in Memphis, TN, a tuition-free charter school serving grades K-5, to deliver a donation of surplus AV equipment that was earmarked for recycling by the college. Joe learned of the school’s financial situation and dire need for supplies, etc. through a friend, whose daughter teaches at Aurora.
Joe said everyone at the school was thrilled and very grateful to receive equipment that will outfit six classrooms with sorely-needed audio-visual technology.
According to Joe, the public school system in Memphis is heavily burdened by corruption and mismanagement, thus many charter schools have been started that operate largely on donations. Aurora Collegiate Academy is one of better ones and therefore is attracting more students, Joe said. The school currently operates in several portable classrooms that are surrounded by a security fence since it’s located in a high-crime neighborhood. The students are fortunate to use a nearby Boys and Girls Club for gym classes and lunch time.
Aurora will be moving to a larger building in January that also won’t be in a “very good area, but it works for them,” said Joe. “Hard to believe this is how things are here in the United States.” The new building took a long time to find and now is being slowly renovated as funds allow.
Here is a link to Aurora Collegiate Academy’s website: https://auroracollegiate.org/en
“If anyone needs more information, please let me know.” Joe said. “It would be great if we could help them out more.”
Pictured below are Joe and Binh Doan, director of operations at the school, with the donated items: six ELMOS, six screens, six switches and six projectors.
Published: Mon, 29 Jul 2019 12:26:32 +0000 by d.gardner