Like a Good Neighbor, Auburn is There

State Farm’s grant opportunity was too good to be true for Auburn’s outreach program, as it paralleled their goals for service learning and greater access to higher education quite perfectly. And out of 1,192 applicants, Auburn was honored to receive one of the 82 grants that were funded.

For the project, Auburn chose to focus on two of Loachapoka’s current limitations for educational progress. By offering more elective classes and improving technology for individual students in and out of the classroom, a change for the better will finally be feasible.

This spring, Auburn professors will help teach theater, music and intensive math classes at Loachapoka. The grant will help pay for faculty supplies, travel back and forth from the school and graduate students, who will also help with the service-learning initiative. These diverse elective programs will help students develop skills and creativity that have the potential to transform into passions.

“They’ve just never had the chance to take a theater class or a music class or an art class and get inspired,” Bell said.

To expand the children’s technological horizons, each Loachapoka 9^th grader will receive an HP Mini laptop computer. The computers will help students learn essential skills beneficial to their overall learning experience. Auburn partnered with Verizon on this particular project to assure that anywhere a Verizon cell phones works, the student’s computer will be able to connect to the Internet.

“Most of them don’t have internet at home, so we can use it as a teaching and enrichment device that way,” Bell said.

Bell also plans to bring Loachapoka’s 11^th and 12^th grade students on Auburn’s campus, allowing them to learn about enrollment, campus life and financial aid programs. After all, experience is often the best teacher.

“We’re not promoting Auburn necessarily. Just getting them comfortable with being on a college campus,” Bell said.

And it’s not just the students that should feel comfortable with the idea of attending college. Auburn will also provide a “Family University” for Loachapoka parents, making them aware of ways they can help support and prepare their children for the transition to higher education.

Through State Farm’s grant and Auburn’s efforts, goals for higher education that were once unattainable for Loachapoka students will become a foreseeable reality in their future.

“We’re setting a goal that 25 percent of each class goes to college,” Bell said.