Merrill High School won $5,000 from Cellcom for participating in Project Innovate.
Project Innovate winners were determined by the number of qualified votes cast for each school during the month-long voting period, Oct. 22-Nov. 19. The community voting program hinges on schools mobilizing their supporters. To be successful in Project Innovate, schools had to tell as many people as they could to vote and be creative in rallying supporters.
At Merrill High School, the FBLA club took the lead in rallying votes. They used the school web page, email and facebook to reach potential voters, as well as flyers in shopping bags at Merrill stores.
MHS FBLA advisor Dawn Jameson said the school plans to purchase iPads with the prize money.
This year Cellcom held two Project Innovate contests in separate portions of its service area, the Northwoods and Marathon County. Antigo High School was the Northwoods winner, receiving $30,000 for the purchase of classroom technology. Tomahawk High School placed 2nd, receiving $15,000, and Merrill was third.
In October, Cellcom invited 17 public and private high schools in the Northwoods to participate in the community voting challenge, with nine schools choosing to participate.
The top three schools can use their prize money to equip classrooms with technology such as interactive white boards, LCD projectors, laptops, net books or tablets, software, digital media tools or other resources to advance learning.