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Coleman ISD Students Participate in Texas Capitol Schoolhouse

               On Monday, January 31, 2011, nine Coleman ISD robotics students participated in the Texas Capitol Schoolhouse Project. Coleman ISD was one of eleven districts asked to participate in this year’s project.
                Students were treated to dinner on Sunday evening by Rural Issues Consultant and former Texas Representative Bob Turner. Monday was spent demonstrating the programming and building of their robots, touring the capitol, and attending the reading of proclamation s from the Senate floor. Monday evening dinner was hosted by Mr. Chad Brinkley, compliments of Dell Computers.
                Pictured above with Mr. Turner are (back row) Nathan Taylor, Erik Villeda, Landon Brown, Marcos Aaron, Mr. Bob Turner, (front row) Casey Bledsoe, Cade Garrett, Carissa Delagarza, and Darian Hunter.

               The Texas Capitol Schoolhouse Foundation facilitates actual high tech school classrooms in the basement Capitol Rotunda using state-of-the-art educational technology. “The participating schools clearly demonstrate their effective day-to-day use of educational technology. Visitors to the Capitol will see and experience technology currently in use by Texas classrooms,” said Schoolhouse organizer and Executive Director Dr. Deborah Jolly. Jolly is also the Deputy Director of Wexford Institute, a national research/evaluation and development non-profit agency.
 
            “We bring the schools together to show our legislators the wonderful things their technology funding has done for Texas classrooms. Each time the event becomes more and more impressive as the technology use becomes more and more sophisticated,” Jolly added. Legislators and invited guests have the opportunity to venture through actual classrooms to observe and experience educational technology in use by teachers and students.
 
            Participating districts include: Amarillo ISD, Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD, Irving ISD, Klein ISD, Manor ISD, Ysleta ISD, Floydada ISD, Coleman ISD, San Saba ISD, Pasadena ISD, and the Texas School for the Deaf. Remote schools include Stockdale ISD, Alief ISD, Valley Mills ISD and Panhandle ISD. Corporate sponsors include Apple, Wexford Institute, NxVentures, Time Warner Cable, Texas Virtual Learning Network, AMD, Connections Academy and Virtual Drive Driver Ed