Alumni pledges to donate $250,000 to their Alma mater

ISHPEMING — The Ishpeming Public School District will be receiving an extremely generous donation over the next 10 years from two of their alumni.

A husband and wife that are both Ishpeming High School graduates have pledged to donate over $250,000 to the school district. The anonymous donations will be dispersed throughout the next ten years. This year, roughly $50,000 has been donated to provide some tremendous upgrades in learning technology.

“So we have 80 Chromebooks, two carts of 40,” said Ishpeming School District Business Manager Anthony Bertucci, “we have 90 T.I. Inspire calculators and then we have the carts for the Chromebooks and all of the ancillary accessories to go with the T.I. Inspire calculators.”

The Chromebooks serve as a happy medium with the functionality of a desktop computer and the portability of a tablet. The calculators will be used throughout the math and science departments.

“They are wireless calculators where the teacher can plug in a problem and the entire class can view the problem on their calculator. They also have various types of accessories that go with them that you can temperature readings and all sorts of problems, etc. It’s so neat to see the integration of the technology especially in a math class where you wouldn’t really think there’s much more you can do but these devices really allow that next step in learning.”

The donors have chosen to remain anonymous, but have been described as a pair of proud alumni that are grateful for how well they feel Ishpeming schools prepared them for their careers. They look at this as way to continue that tradition.

“We have an extremely strong alumni base who really have supported their alma-mater for many years. Although it is extremely appreciated, it’s really not surprising. We just have a great base of alumni.”

The Ishpeming Public School District is set for their next purchase, which is expected to be a 3–D printer that will be used in geometry and construction classes.