We delivered our second Merge Cube in a series of 10 school visits yesterday in the great state of Illinois. For anyone unfamiliar with this initiative, one of our marketing professionals is currently on an 11-week US road trip. Not only is he getting to see a whole lot throughout that time, he is also stopping by 10 schools around the country to donate some tech tools as he goes. Thanks to our friends from Merge VR, we will be providing 10 Merge Cube devices at schools around the country! At stop No. 2 yesterday, we were glad to donate one to Kumar Kayastha at the Westchester Primary School!
As we’ve discussed, the Merge VR team has provided us with 10 cubes to donate at schools around the country. Prior to yesterday’s visit, we'd already decided on nine of the donations. Andy, who is leading this initiative while on the road, reached out to some educators who had applied for our grant program in the past but weren't selected and set up nine school visits to meet with these educators and gift them a Merge Cube. Since we received 10 from the Merge VR team, that left one AR device still up for grabs.
When arriving in Chicago this past Monday (and while sitting in what can only be described as some of the world’s worst traffic), Andy sent a tweet asking if any educators in the Chicago area would like to receive a free Merge Cube while he was in town. We received a good amount of replies (even some from people who were not in Chicago) and chose Kumar due largely to his enthusiasm. His love for teaching with technology was very clear and his willingness to meet up right away also helped. So, before Andy made his way out of Chicago on Wednesday, he made the delivery.
Kumar is a new tech teacher at the Westchester Primary School, which is in the Westchester section—just outside Chicago. Although it’s not a part of the Chicago Public Schools, Kumar still works with students at two different schools, dividing up his time between them on the day of the visit. Westchester Primary is an early grades school, serving students from grades K-2. They try to give students positive experiences with technology and we hope their new Merge Cube helps enhance their efforts.
Having used some other popular technologies with kids before, Kumar was genuinely excited to try out this new tool. With the Merge Cube, there's all sorts of opportunities to weave augmented reality into learning while boosting engagement. We’d like to thank Kumar for welcoming Andy and for enthusiastically leading tech-rich learning experiences for students! To keep track of how he and his students use their new Merge Cube, follow us on Twitter!