Students in Rangeview High School's robotics and cyber security programs are thrilled to receive 70 gently-used laptops courtesy of the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA). The devices were recently donated to help students improve their designing and coding skills.
Rangeview senior Paul Afriyie is President of the school's robotics team and said these devices will make a huge difference by allowing more team members to work on their designs. “These laptops will change a lot for us," he said. "Ever since we started the club four years ago, laptops have always been one of our big issues. This competition year, having one laptop was one of our biggest limiting factors. Even though we did perform our best, if we had more people programming, we’d do even better.”
GSA also donated another 80 laptops to other APS schools, bringing the total donation to 150 devices. The computers were provided under the Stevenson-Wydler Act, which allows federal agencies that have excess property to donate devices at no cost.
These computers were deemed educationally useful and will ensure that students have the right equipment and skills to succeed in today’s digital world. Rangeview Cybersecurity Teacher Michael Szalay said, “We have a lot more versatility with what we can do. We can do anything we want within the realm of cybersecurity. I think that’s really important because cybersecurity is a field that is constantly evolving.”
APS Board President Dr. Anne Keke joined GSA Regional Administrator Denise Maes and representatives from Congressman Jason Crow’s staff to present the laptops to Rangeview students.
“I really want to stress the importance of these donations and how grateful we are," Dr. Keke said. "This really goes along with the vision and mission of Aurora Public Schools. We mean it when we say we want to make this district a destination district. It’s all about our students in APS.”