Aviation Institute of Maintenance, Centura College and Tidewater Tech Launch International Education Project by Donating Computer Labs to Elementary Schools in Uganda and Norfolk

Aviation Institute of Maintenance, Centura College, and Tidewater Tech have teamed together to donate 60 laptop computers to Kiwoko Citizen’s Private School in Uganda and Azalea Gardens Middle School in Norfolk. By working together with the headmaster and principal of the two schools, the colleges have worked to provide hardware, software, and instructional projects that will unite school children around the world in studying cultural research, writing, business technology, and communication.

The project launched with the Executive Vice President of the institutions, Dr. Joel English, worked alongside his brother, Dr. James English, who is a professor of Biology, to support international learning within the developing country of Uganda. James was conducting research in Uganda’s remote villages, studying how pathogens passed from livestock to people through cattle parasites. He came across a 12-year old orphan named Sharon, who spent her days tending to cattle in a small homestead. She was unable to attend school without family to fund her education. James decided he wanted to help Sharon and support the school, in whatever way he could. As James got to know Sharon, he realized that, ”sometimes our limits are not a shortage of resources, ideas, or goodwill, but rather an understanding of how we can help others: we often just don't know how we can help or what role we can play to support others.”

After helping Sharon with the costs associated with enrolling into the Kiwoko Citizen’s Private School, James got to know the school’s Headmaster. He inquired about the school’s needs, and the Headmaster stated that the school had a lack of teaching technologies, and that they were in dire need of laptop computers. James turned to his brother, Joel, who heads the group of career colleges in the United States. Joel’s solution was to not only provide a 30-laptop computer lab to Kiwoko Citizen’s Private School, but to also provide a computer lab to Azalea Gardens Middle School, a local public school near the institution’s home office in Southeastern Virginia. Joel worked with the Board Chair of Norfolk Public Schools and the Azalea Gardens Middle School principal to identify faculty to not only accept the computer donation but to work with faculty at Kiwoko Citizen’s Private School to develop classroom projects and collaborative research assignments between the students who live worlds apart. Joel stated, “We hope the classrooms in Uganda and Virginia will interact, write to each other, and study each other’s cultures using the same technologies, to broaden the context and meaning of what both groups of students learn. We are deeply committed to supporting the communities we serve. These days, though, ‘community’ has taken on a global meaning. We’re thrilled to be able to support the Kiwoko Citizen’s Private School in Uganda and the young scholars here at home.”

AIM, Centura College, and Tidewater Tech shipped the laptops at the end of May, and they have arrived in Uganda. They will reach Kiwoko on June 27th, when the school reopens. Ben Clark, Associate Director of Academic Affairs, handled the final push and says, “I am elated to share that DHL finally picked up the 15 boxes of laptops. Each box contains 2 laptops, and they are now making their way to the Kiwoko Citizen’s Private School, located outside of Kampala, Uganda. We are so excited and humbled to connect students from two different continents. We will make the local donation when it’s safe to do so.” The colleges will hand deliver 30 laptops to Azalea Gardens Middle School over the summer months, and collaborative projects between the two student groups will commence in the Fall of 2020.