PLYMOUTH, N.H.-
When John Morgridge graduated from Plymouth State in 1985 with a bachelor’s degree in business management, he never envisioned returning to the area with a message about improving educational opportunity with technology. But soon after earning his degree, John’s life took a fortuitous turn when his father became CEO of Cisco Systems and guided it to become a worldwide leader in internet communications technology. Now, 25 years later, the Morgridge family’s good fortune has evolved into a nationally renowned private foundation whose goal is to enhance learning in the nation’s schools through interactive and multimedia technology tools. On Oct. 13, John returned to PSU with his wife Carrie as representatives of the Morgridge Family Foundation and met with educators from a half-dozen area schools and school districts, seeking to partner and support their work through a new foundation that provides interactive electronic whiteboards to enhance instruction and learning.
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| Carrie Morgridge of the Morgridge Family Foundation uses an interactive whiteboard while addressing area educators and PSU faculty and staff at Plymouth State University. |
“I feel fortunate to be able to give back to public education here in New Hampshire,” Morgridge said. “We’ve given away over one thousand interactive whiteboards and we’re hoping to walk away with some new partners that we can work with and help implement this 21st century classroom collaboration.”
Plymouth State President Sara Jayne Steen praised the Morgridge Family Foundation
for their generosity and vision in sharing their important message about the 21st century classroom collaborative (21st CCC).
“John and Carrie are wonderful philanthropists, with a national and international reach,” Steen said. “We at Plymouth State are pleased to be invited to take a leading role in their partnerships for education.”
As part of the foundation’s initiative, PSU is working with area schools and educators to coordinate a comprehensive proposal to the foundation built around new technology toolkits. The toolkits contain interactive whiteboards, interactive formative assessment tools, and teacher training materials provided by SMART Technologies and Promethean which provide innovative online resources for teachers and students to utilize in the classroom.
The foundation also supports several early childhood literacy and health initiatives.
For more information about this release, contact Bruce Lyndes, PSU Media Relations Mgr., (603) 535-2775 or blyndes@plymouth.edu
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