Summerfield Students & Teachers Benefit from Successful PTA Projector Campaign

SUMMERFIELD, NC - March 3, 2025. Summerfield Elementary PTA announced the completion of a fundraising campaign to replace 35 classroom projectors. The community rose to the challenge and raised $59,393 in two-and-a-half years. Students and teachers are thrilled with the upgrades, and the PTA is overwhelmed by the generosity from donors. "We're so proud to be a part of this amazing community," said Angie Kaney, PTA President. "We look forward to continuing our 100-year tradition of excellence in education for our Summerfield Elementary families."

Campaign leadership team with one of the new projectors: (left to right) Margie Taylor, Amy Teoh, Shana Shumate, Angie Kaney, Denise Ebbs, and Michelle Osabel.

Full press release below.

Angie Kaney

Summerfield Elementary PTA President

summerfieldptapresident@gmail.com

Denise Ebbs

Summerfield Elementary Principal

Ebbsd@gcsnc.com

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Summerfield Students & Teachers Benefit from Successful PTA Projector Campaign

SUMMERFIELD, NC - March 3, 2025.

Summerfield Elementary School students and teachers now have the newest state-of-the-art technology in every classroom thanks to the successful campaign launched by the Summerfield Parents Teachers Association. Families, grandparents, corporations, foundations, business groups and friends came together and donated $59,393 for the purchase and installation of 35 Epson projectors.

“Gifts from many generous individuals have enabled our school to equip every general classroom and specialty room with state-of-the-art Epson BrightLink projectors and software,” said Angie Kaney, PTA president.

“Our PTA board launched this campaign in the Fall of 2022 when we learned that the technology budget would not cover replacing failing decades-old projectors. The manufacturer had no replacement parts. Our teachers would scavenge good parts from broken projectors, but as the projectors broke, more and more classrooms were without this teaching tool,” said Kaney.

“Without our donors and the work of volunteer fundraisers, it may have taken 10 years to cover every room,” Kaney said. “We did it in two-and-a-half years!”

“We know that students learn better when they are fully engaged, and that hands-on learning is the best way to engage them,” Kaney noted. “Our teachers use this equipment to do just that.”

“We recognize that the way each student learns is unique. Generally, there are three ways: listening, sight, and touch. It is estimated that only 30% of school children learn primarily by hearing. By bringing this technology into our classrooms, teachers can reach each student by combining these different learning styles,” said Principal Denise Ebbs.

“Today, our students are fully engaged with multi-sensory, hands-on learning,” Ebbs noted. “For example, when learning about science concepts, videos can be used to bring the experience of an exploding volcano or the structure of a cell. The interactive projectors allow teachers to bring to life what students are reading in text.”

This campaign was conducted in addition to the PTA’s annual FUNDay fundraiser, held in August and September. “We thank our community for coming forward to support this special campaign with their philanthropic gifts– to bring state-of-the-art learning tools to Summerfield – in addition to their generous gifts to FUNDay,” Kaney said. (FUNDay generally supports teacher requests for materials to enhance instruction such as math and science materials for students to use, books on topics of interest to students, and educational games.)

“Our next campaign, Anchored in Innovation, will fund a Promethean board, document cameras, and other technology needs at the school. The Promethean board, a mobile interactive display, can be used in the library, multi-purpose room, or anywhere else in the school. The document cameras enable teachers to project physical handouts via the new Epson projectors onto a screen for all students to see, and we hope to replace 35 cameras,” Kaney said. “To date, donors have given or pledged $9,500 towards the $12,000 goal.” Donations can be made here: https://www.givebacks.com/causes/summerfieldelementarypta/campaigns/anchoredininnovation2025

“The Summerfield Elementary community is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. Our 250+ PTA members – parents, grandparents, friends and caregivers, corporations and businesses – volunteer, advocate, and fundraise to help every student be the best they can be,” added Kaney.

For more information, please contact Angie Kaney at summerfieldptapresident@gmail.com; Michelle Osabel, Fundraising Chair, michelle.osabel@gmail.com, or Margie Taylor, grandparent, at mut100@psu.edu.

How is this technology game-changing?

From a kindergarten teacher:

I love the new projectors! They make it so much easier to interact with the content, and the clear visuals really help keep the children engaged. It’s great to have a tool that enhances both teaching and learning.

Our teacher who instructs exceptional children shared this:

Students in my classroom, especially those with learning challenges, need to see, hear, touch and interact. The more senses a child uses to learn, the more the child will learn and retain. The new projector will enable a child with learning challenges to touch a pen on the whiteboard, answer the question, see the answer to the question, and hear other students’ praises.

From our art teacher:

So, for the bingo game, students watch the biography of Claude Monet. When they see a painting by Monet in the video, they look at their bingo card and try to find that painting on their card. If it’s there, they mark it. Bingo uses images, thought, and detective work, instead of only images on white paper. It’s interactive, incorporating visual, auditory and touch – the way youngsters learn.