As reported by Andy Thompson in the Appleton Post Crescent, St. Mary Central High School is embarking on a plan that will eventually provide every student and teacher with a laptop.

St. Mary’s 2010 freshmen class will receive laptops this fall, with the rest of the students following suit over the next two years. Once the plan is fully implemented, all 200+ students of St. Mary’s will have a personal laptop for homework, projects and day-to-day curriculum. The school plans to lease the laptops to students at an undetermined monthly fee and make them available for purchase when they graduate.

School officials say the one-to-one laptop system may be the way of the future:

“It allows for a lot greater flexibility and a mobile learning environment,” said Eric Siems, technology director for the Twin City Catholic Education System, which includes St. Mary Central, a middle school and three elementary schools. “This is the way to go.”

Jennifer Miller, director of student recruitment for TCCES, said the entire campus of St. Mary Central is wireless capable.  The system, Miller said, is capable of simultaneously running 300 computers.

“We want to best prepare the students for the future and we want to give them the best tools to be able to learn,” Miller said

Wired Wisconsin recognizes the value of technology in education. We support efforts to provide Wisconsin students with the tools necessary to succeed in a 21^st century world.