Article in the Grand Island Independent

Heartland Lutheran receives SMART Board from Hy-Vee Grand Island Hy-Vee store director John Griesenbrock laughs along with teachers at Heartland Lutheran High School Tuesday morning during a SMART Board presentation. The school won the technology through a promotion between Proctor & Gamble and Hy-Vee. (Independent/Scott Kingsley) Click here for our photo reprints By Harold Reutter harold.reutter@theindependent.com Published: Tuesday, November 10, 2009 11:03 PM CST Most of the students at Heartland Lutheran High School raised their hands Tuesday morning when asked if they were familiar with a SMART Board. That put the kids ahead of the teachers, most of whom had never used a SMART Board, which is an interactive white board that is hooked up to a laptop computer. That lack of SMART Board experience should change after Tuesday, when the school was presented with the device by Hy-Vee. Heartland Lutheran Development Director Lloyd Wagnitz said the SMART Board's interactive feature helps draw students into a teacher's classroom lessons. More Local Former wrestler sentenced to probation for selling ecstasy Heartland Lutheran receives SMART Board from Hy-Vee Statewide emergency radio network rolling out despite budget crisis Northwest makes state history with use of electronic polling books Vote Yes group discusses health care reform Robin Keilig, who teaches pre-algebra, computer applications and physical education at Heartland Lutheran, said she got training in using SMART Board technology in the classroom through Educational Service Unit 10 out of Kearney last spring. But she had no idea when she would actually get to put her training to use because the high school did not own a SMART Board. However, Wagnitz heard her talking about the SMART Board and what it could do. As a result, when Heartland Lutheran officials learned that the local Hy-Vee was sponsoring a contest for schools to get a SMART Board, the school quickly jumped in. Schools could earn points for buying a specified amount of Proctor & Gamble products at Hy-Vee, then going to a Web site to show that they had purchased those products to benefit a particular school. "I was going up and down the aisles, buying Proctor & Gamble products," Keilig said. As development director, Wagnitz felt it was his job to get the word out so all Heartland Lutheran parents and supporters would do the same thing. He also made it easy to get the results recorded on behalf of Heartland Lutheran. Wagnitz used the Heartland Lutheran High School Web site to provide a link to the Proctor & Gamble Web site. To even out the competition, Proctor & Gamble divided points by total student enrollment. In that situation, Heartland Lutheran's relatively small enrollment worked in the school's favor in the competition with other Grand Island area schools. Jesse Romero and John Griesenbrock, Hy-Vee store manager, told students at the end of their chapel services on Tuesday that the SMART Board presentation was a reward for what people had done on behalf of Heartland Lutheran. As the staff member who has had training on the SMART Board, Keilig said, she will be responsible for training fellow teachers in how to use the new technology. The school plans to get a stand on wheels to make the SMART Board portable between classrooms. But Keilig knows how much fun the SMART Board can be to use. "If we don't get a stand, we'll just hang it on a wall in my classroom," she joked.