Green Eggs and Ham ....The Pond School Computerization Project C. Paul Earle

Many Thanks
Thanks to all who contributed (in cash or kind), the students of the Falmouth Infant School (affectionately called Pond School) have joined the computer learning age. They are the proud recipients of four (4) computers, seven (7) Educational CDs to start off their library, and one (1) Laserjet printer, made available through the Hands Across Trelawny (HAT) organization as part of our Computer Literacy Program.

I'm especially grateful to Kathi Cooke for being so resourceful, dependable, and very helpful as a point of contact on the island, and to Stevie Gregg (of Sly Slick & Wicked disco) who volunteered to assist in picking up the shipment from Montego Bay.

I'm also grateful to the two fine young men (Jermane Stewart and Steve Gregg) that I managed to recruit as volunteers to assist in the areas of training and maintennance. Initially, Jermane Stewart (a recent Knibb graduate) has volunteered to conduct one-on-one training sessions for the teachers as well as assist with teaching the students, while young Steve Gregg (a recent graduate of the Montego-Bay Community College and son of the aforementioned Stevie Gregg) will assist with the maintennance of the hardware and virus protection.

Finally, I would like to thank Mrs. Lilis James (Principal), the teaching staff, and all the students at Pond School for the warm reception they gave me.

Getting the project off the ground:
Upgrading used computers have recently become a favorite pastime of mine (along with digital photography), and I just happened to see some used machines which I was able to purchase "for a song" at a computer show in the greater Washington DC area. I then upgraded them for very little extra cost, to the point where they are about what the average user now has.

The idea of donating computers (new and used) has been mentioned and discussed on this site for well over a year now, and I remember speaking with Dr. Harris, MP, in August of 2003 (street dance night) about some of the discussions we were having on this site about donating new and used computers around the Parish. He welcomed the idea and offered some possibilities about where these computers could reside, maintennance, security, and so forth. We realized that what we would ultimately do, and when we do it, would largely depend on just how many computers are available and when, and where the need is.

Speaking of need, there couldn't be a better place to start than Pond School. Prior to this donation, they were without the use of a computer as a learning tool. This means that they were starting their education at a disadvantage compared with their counterparts in other parts of the world, and would have to start playing "catch up" from day one. Hopefully, these computers will start to level the playing field somewhat for these students.

Green Eggs and Ham: by Dr. Seuss
The seven CDs now in the Pond School library cover, Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, Reading, Phonetics, and two famous books by Dr. Seuss, titled "ABC" and my all-time favorite "Green Eggs And Ham".....please tell me you remember reading "Green Eggs And Ham" !!!.

Now that you know what is in the Pond School CD library, please feel free to send them a CD that they (teacher or student) might find useful.

Latest additions to the CD library: - updated 5/26/05
Since posting this article just over a week ago, I managed to get my hands on three more CDs which will be added to the Pond School Library shortly. They are "The Cat In The Hat" and "Kindergarten" by Dr. Seuss and "Let's make a WORD" by Sesame Street, respectively.

"The Cat In The Hat" was another popular and favorite book of mine by Dr. Seuss, but I couldn't find it in the stores earlier. I'm sure you can find your favorites out there to send (hint, hint).

Getting online:
All that is needed now to get online is a dial-up account from a local ISP (Internet Service Provider), so it shouldn't be too long before the Principal gets up to speed with an e-mail account which will make her more accessible and just a few key-strokes away from the rest of the world.

Due to the proliferation of "Adult" content online, I envision that online activity will be restricted to the Principal and teaching staff, while the students will be in an "off-line" mode getting information / instruction from the educational CDs in the CDROM drive. I would recommend that the students only go online under direct supervision and watch of an adult...don't want these kids growing up too fast for their own good.

Book Keeping:

Qty	Description	Cost (US$)
4	CPU @ ~500MHZ, ~128MB RAM, ~10GB HD ea.	$ 400.00
4	15" Monitor @ $15.00 ea	$ 60.00
4	Keyboard/Mouse/Pad	$ 10.00
1	HP LaserJet 4L Printer	$ 50.00
	Sub-Total 1:	$ 520.00
	Packaging/Boxes/Foam	$ 40.00
	Shipping/Freight/Cargo/Fees (USA)	$ 368.00
	Additional Fees/Charges (Jamaica)	$ 30.00
	Sub-Total 2:	$ 958.00
7	Educational CDs @ $8.00 ea	$ 56.00
	Grand Total:	$ 1,014.00

Summary:
Average Cost per Computer ~ $130.00 (w/o shipping expenses)
Average Cost per Computer ~ $240.00 (including shipping expenses)

As you can see, shipping the computers costs almost as much as the CPUs, thereby increasing the average cost from about US$130 to about US$240 per system, which is still a tremendous bargain nonetheless. Another way to look at it is like this: It will take an additional US$110.00 to ship a system (new or old), which is about what I paid for each CPU, so any relief in shipping costs would go a long way toward procuring more CPUs.

link: THE STORY IN PICTURES

--by: C. Paul Earle
May 2004