MiCTA Awards $24,000 Innovation Grant To Kilgour School In Cincinnati

SAGINAW, Mich., Nov. 1, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- MiCTA, a national non-profit cooperative purchasing organization, has awarded Kilgour School in Cincinnati a 2012 Technology Innovation Grant. The $24,000 grant will help fund the introduction of an innovative business education program teaching entrepreneurship and critical thinking skills, as well as financial literacy.

The grant allows Kilgour School to introduce "Student MBA: Bringing Business to the Classroom," a program the school piloted with the Partnership for Innovation in Education (PIE). "We are pleased to support Kilgour School and the Cincinnati Public Schools through our Technology Innovation Grant program," says Tim von Hoff, Chief Operating Officer of MiCTA. "We believe that the Kilgour-PIE collaboration truly demonstrates the power of technology in K-12 education."

The grant will allow Kilgour to introduce 20 handheld mobile devices on a "one-device-per-student" basis in the Gifted Division, and will support a first-ever K-6 App Incubator and Media Broadcast Skills Club beginning January 2013. The class will be taught at the Kilgour School, but will be available virtually to all 33,000 students in the Cincinnati Public School system.

"Our programs develop career and tech-readiness allowing students to exploit potential opportunities, and incubate new business technology ideas in a safe environment," says Mary Welsh Schlueter, Chief Executive Officer for PIE. "Younger kids are incredibly innovative and entrepreneurial.  They can be even more engaged when technology is used as a 1:1 teaching tool."

Representatives from Kilgour Elementary and PIE will be available to answer questions about the program during MiCTA's Virtual Conference on November 14, 2012.

About MiCTA 
MiCTA, located at 515 North Washington Avenue in Saginaw MI, negotiates discounts on telecommunications and technology services for its higher education, K-12, healthcare, library, charitable and governmental members, seeks to resolve common voice, video and data issues, provides helpful information, and participates in legislative and regulatory telecommunications advocacy. For more information, please visit the MiCTA Web site, http://www.mictatech.org.   

About Partnership for Innovation in Education 
PIE, a national, nonprofit organization based in Cincinnati, works with K-12 schools to develop and support highly innovative technology-based, scalable Core Curriculum and STEM-aligned initiatives that accelerate academic achievement, career readiness, financial literacy and educator tech development. For more information, please visit the PIE Website, http://www.piemedia.org.

SOURCE MiCTA