WEST UNITY, March 7, 2014-Students at Hilltop High School and Hilltop Junior High received a boost to their educational toolkit available at Hilltop Schools with the issue of new Samsung Chrome Books to the entire 7th through 12th grade student body, along with a protective covering. The new Chrome Books, issued on Monday, March 3, will belong to each student for the duration of the school year. Each student receiving the new computer paid a $5.00 fee, which will be used towards insurance, protecting both the student and school from loss in the case of an accident or other damage.
Hilltop Schools Superintendent Larry Long, in an announcement posted to the community through the school system’s monthly newsletter, stated regarding the upgrade in technology for the students, “I feel we are behind and we have a lot of catch-up work to do in the technology area. It is our intent that we will be making a strong move forward on our technology piece as this is an area that is important to our students and their future regardless of ‘path of life’ they chose to pursue. Several schools in our area already have programs like this going so I want our students and staff to have the same advantages afforded to them that other schools offer. We know this is a very competitive society and any edge that we can give our kids – I am all for it as I believe this is one of our responsibilities.” As for the timing of the new laptop issues, Superintendent Long said “We are putting this project in place during the second semester for basic introduction and for both students and staff to utilize and get comfortable in what we are going to be able to do with this endeavor now and into the future. By moving in this direction, it will free up our current labs, mobile labs, and extra JH/HS classroom computers are to be shifted to our elementary as we start to work on keyboarding at those various grade levels.”
Students at Hilltop are excited about the Chrome Book issue, as many feel it will enhance their educational experience. The Chrome Books will afford the students an extra tool to use on a day-to-day basis, and also are set up for student to student e mail, which many feel will open communication and make project work more efficient. Freshman Leah Carothers, when asked how she felt about the newly issued Chrome Book stated, “I am excited about having them and I believe they will come in handy for our school work throughout the day; I’m very happy about getting the computer!”