OLD TOWN, Maine — An Old Town high schooler has been restoring donated computers to get them into the hands of elementary students who need them most.
Ryan Kelley's Eagle Scout project focuses on restoring donated computers for Old Town Elementary to give them out to its students.
Teachers there say this effort is truly making a big difference.
"So we would only have maybe half of our class on a good day log-in due to scheduling, or tablets or devices, but now we have pretty much everyone logged in all at once and that's really nice," said 5th-grade teacher Kayla Madden.
"I'm glad I can do something that impacts a large amount of people," said Kelley.
This fall semester, many students are following a hybrid or fully-remote learning this semester. Harper and Finn Brogden are learning fully-remote for the rest of the year. Their dad Andrew Brogden tells NEWS CENTER Maine they only had one computer for a family of six.
"One for a family of six, cause we only have one computer so we would have had to share that amongst all of us," said Brogden.
Ryan's efforts helped them get two more computers, one for Harper and one for Finn, now they are able to log in to class every day and complete their assignments on their own.
"Erin and I both use our computers for our own Zoom meetings and the community said that we partake in, plus we both also are doing some schooling," says Andrew Brogden.
"Definitely even if the need is met, then we can have them just go to a different school is needed," said Boy Scout and Old Town high school student Ryan Kelley.
"It allows them to log into their own classes and be responsible for their own work instead of you know 'I need the computer at 9!' and 'I need it at 9:30!' and trying to juggle that, it allowed everyone to have equal access," said Madden.
"In the spring attendance, it was really hit or miss. It depended on if they had internet access or if they had a device, where now I'm seeing almost 100 percent attendance with my online and my remote students so it's made a big difference in our community," said Michelle Miller, another 5th-grade teacher at Old Town Elementary.
The schools' teachers and principal agree Ryan is creating lasting and positive benefits to students in his community during this ongoing pandemic.
If you'd like to help, Ryan is asking for donations of computers that include a camera. That way, students can log into their Zoom or Google Classroom classes and keep the learning going! You can deliver or mail the computer off at Old Town Elementary School (576 Stillwater Ave, Old Town, ME 04468 ).