Hampton — Free Wifi hotspots are available to Hampton City School high school students starting this summer because of a partnership with the Sprint 1Million Project.
Paul Lawrence, director of Information Literacy at Hampton City Schools, said after applying and not receiving the partnership last year, Hampton City Schools applied for a second time and won the partnership with Sprint for 2018-2019 school year.
The partnership will provide 600 wireless devices with 3GB per month of free internet access. Students who receive the wireless devices will be able to keep it for their entire four years of high school, Lawrence said.
He added that there are three different wireless options available to the schools in this partnership. Schools will receive a phone with a hotspot, a tablet with a hotspot or a MiFi mobile hotspot. Lawrence does not know which device the schools will get yet.
As part of their Digital Learning Program, Hampton City Schools already have a program, Chromebook 1:1, which gives students technological access inside the classroom — each student grades 5 through 12 is given a free Chromebook to complete coursework.
The 1Million project partnership will then level the playing field even more by giving students with little or no access to Wifi at home the ability to work on their homework there with their Chromebooks, Lawrence said.
In order to qualify for this program students have to be entering or already in high school and have little or no access to Wifi at home.
Lawrence said the survey application will be opened indefinitely and they will be accepting applications continuously. He noted that even after all 600 devices are given out the school will still keep the application open as a waitlist for next year’s program.
Newport News received this partnership last year but did not have enough applicants, leading to a surplus of wireless devices. Lawrence said he wants to avoid that situation, making sure any student who needs internet access will get it.
The tentative delivery date for the devices is the end of July.
For information about the program and the application, click here.
