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Thanks to a website and MaryAlyce Outlaw, from Outlaw Realty, Isabella Ziglar’s second grade class at Red Level Elementary School now has five new computers and headsets.

Outlaw found out about DonorsChoose.org, the site that Ziglar used, through her daughter.

“My daughter is actually a teacher,” Outlaw said. “When she first started teaching, some of the other teachers told her to sign up on it. She got all kinds of different things like bean bags, laptops, just all kinds of things.”

DonorsChoose.org is a United States-based nonprofit organization that allows individuals to donate directly to public school classroom projects. Founded in 2000 by former public school teacher Charles Best, DonorsChoose.org was among the first civic crowdfunding platforms of its kind.

Outlaw wanted to make sure that some of the other county schools didn’t get overlooked from donations.

“Once I went online to DonorsChoose.org, I noticed that there were several county school teachers that were asking for donations,” Outlaw said. “I saw that Isabella asked for computers. So, I notified her and told her that I was going to get them for her.”

Ziglar found out about DonorsChoose.org through the teacher grapevine.

She said the laptops will be a huge necessity in her classroom.

“Third graders are reaching that 1 to 1 ratio, but in my classroom we were not,” Ziglar said. “I have a few, but they have seen better days. With these Chromebooks, it is just another step in the right direction to having all kids with a laptop.”

The students will use the laptops for Accelerated Reader, Accelerated Math, state testing and Spelling City.

“These students need to be able to work a computer,” Ziglar said. “So, the younger we expose them to it, the better it will be. This year’s state testing is all on the computer. So, they will have to know how to work it.”