West Middlesbrough Neighbourhood Trust (WMNT) has donated ten laptops to the college following a successful three-year pilot ‘loan’ scheme.
Two of the students, Natalie Ryan and Paul McKinnell, say it will revolutionise their studies as neither of them previously had access to a computer at home.
19-year-old Whinney Banks resident Natalie, who has a two-year old son, used to face a three mile round trip into college on her day off to do extra study for her Travel and Tourism BTEC, to access the college’s child care facilities.
“It’s great that I’ve got one of the laptops because now I can actually do homework at home!” she said. “Once I’ve settled my son down for the night I can do my studies, rather than having to make all the extra trips back to college with him in tow. It is saving so much hassle and making life so much easier.”
22-year-old West Lane resident Paul, who is studying for an NVQ in Fabrication Welding, is also finding the laptop useful. He said: “I’m over the moon that I’ve got a laptop to help with my college work. I can do research, access the internet and type up assignments. I’m even going to use it to develop my CV.”
The laptops have now been given to the college after WMNT initially developed a loan scheme to benefit West Middlesbrough residents studying at local schools and colleges.
WMNT Children and Learning Manager, Anne Shaw, said: “It’s heart warming to know that the laptops are proving to be such a boost to students from West Middlesbrough. It is a great example of how partnership working, even on simple schemes like this, can reap great benefits and I look forward to hearing more about the students’ successes in the future.”
Ends.
Ends. Press Notice WMNT/217 30/11/07.
Issued by Helen Mellor, Marketing and Communications Coordinator on (01642) 757870.