Alexandria City Public Schools

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First High-Tech Ben Carson Reading Room Unveiled at T.C. Williams High School

ACPS Superintendent Morton Sherman, Alexandria Mayor William D. Euille and Candy Carson Attend Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony

Alexandria, VA - Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS) opened the first, state-of-the-art Ben Carson Reading Room in the country at T.C. Williams High School on January 13. During the grand opening, ACPS Superintendent Morton Sherman, T.C. Williams Principal Suzanne Maxey, Alexandria Mayor William D. Euille and Congressman Jim Moran welcomed sponsors and guests, including Mrs. Candy Carson and representatives from the Carson Scholars Fund and the Verizon Foundation, and they presided over tours and demonstrations of the new reading room.


Candy Carson, co-founder of the Carson Scholars Fund and wife of Dr. Ben Carson, addresses students, sponsors and guests at grand opening ceremony for the Ben Carson Reading Room.


Candy Carson, co-founder of the Carson Scholars Fund and wife of Dr. Ben Carson, addresses students, sponsors and guests.


Mayor William D. Euille, Candy Carson, Sheryl Gorsuch, Morton Sherman, B. Keith Fulton, Roy & Mrs. Heron, and Suzanne Maxey cut ribbon to the new Ben Carson Reading Room at T.C. Williams High School.


T.C. Williams Carson Scholars with Reading Room sponsors and ACPS officials.


Morton Sherman and Candy Carson converse with sponsors, students and guests inside the Ben Carson Reading Room.

"We are honored to have the Ben Carson Reading Room established at T.C. Williams," said Dr. Sherman. "This innovative space will inspire our hard-working students to reach even greater heights because it was built with them in mind. The reading room offers students access to books and technologies during flexible hours and the opportunity to enjoy reading while enhancing their academic skills."

Ben Carson Reading Rooms offer safe and nurturing environments in which students develop and expand their reading skills. The facilities also foster an appreciation for leisure reading - a message noted neurosurgeon Ben Carson espouses with his foundation, the Carson Scholars Fund. The Fund's DC Metro Chapter, along with the Verizon Foundation, provided funding for the T.C. Williams facility.

"Reading is the key to success. Our partnerships with the DC Metro Chapter and Verizon Foundation will ensure young minds develop the skills necessary to promote lifelong learning. When a student is exposed to the worlds of reading and technology, the possibilities are endless," said Dr. Ben Carson.

To date, the Fund has seeded 68 other reading rooms, almost all of which are in elementary and middle schools around the country. The Reading Room at T.C. Williams is the first to be instituted in a high school - and the first in Virginia - and it is the first to incorporate assistive technologies, such Kindle and Nook e-readers, iPads and interactive whiteboards.

Dr. Roy Heron and his team at the DC Metro Chapter of the Carson Scholars Fund secured a $10,000 grant from Verizon Foundation to support the Caron Scholars Fund Scholarship and Reading Room programs at T. C. Williams. Dr. Heron states he is "delighted that the DC Metro Chapter of Carson Scholars Fund has been able to achieve its significant goals for T.C. Williams High this year, thanks to the tremendous support of Verizon."

Dr. Heron also initiated the partnership between ACPS and Duffy Books in Homes USA. The organization donated 24,000 books to ACPS in 2011, many of which are housed in the new reading room.

B. Keith Fulton, Verizon vice president for Mid-Atlantic government affairs, said, "In a world of near-constant innovation and technological advances, fundamental learning skills such as literacy are more important than ever. The use of wireless-based technology in the Ben Carson Reading Room will greatly enhance the learning experience for T.C. Williams students and educators alike. Verizon has a longstanding record of support for innovative programs that incorporate technology in education, and we're proud to play a role in the success of this initiative."

The Ben Carson Reading Room at T.C. Williams, which includes a main reading hall and an annex, will be accessible to students during class breaks and after school. Teachers will also use the space for unique classroom reading activities.

Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS) serves 12,466 students who hail from more than 128 countries and speak 80 languages. Focused on transforming its 19 schools, including two middle school campuses of five schools and the internationally recognized T.C. Williams High School, ACPS is a school division on the rise committed to ensuring that each and every student succeeds - academically, emotionally, physically, and socially. Visit us on the web at http://www.acps.k12.va.us and follow @ACPSk12 on Twitter.

The Carson Scholars Fund, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, supports two main initiatives: Carson Scholarships and the Ben Carson Reading Project. Our scholarship program awards students who have embraced high levels of academic excellence and community service with $1,000 college scholarships. The Ben Carson Reading Project provides funding to schools to build and maintain Ben Carson Reading Rooms - warm, inviting rooms where children can discover the joy of independent leisure reading. For more information, visit http://carsonscholars.org.

The Verizon Foundation uses its technology, financial resources and partnerships to address critical social issues, with a focus on education and domestic violence prevention. In 2010, the foundation awarded nearly $67 million to nonprofit agencies in the U.S. and abroad. Through Verizon Volunteers, one of the nation's largest employee volunteer programs, Verizon employees and retirees have volunteered nearly 6 million hours of community service since 2000. For more information on the Verizon Foundation, visit www.verizonfoundation.org.

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