Ingersoll helps students in need

Auto dealer donates another 20 laptops

Todd+Ingersoll+stands+with+Principal+Dan+Donovan+and+boxes+of+donated+laptops.

Todd Ingersoll stands with Principal Dan Donovan and boxes of donated laptops.

Shannon Ahearn, Photo Editor

For the past four years, Todd Ingersoll has contributed a total of 54 laptops to DHS that are loaned out to students who do not have access to such technology at home. Ingersoll, CEO and president of Ingersoll Auto of Danbury, just recently donated 20 of those laptops to help students in need.

Principal Dan Donovan recognizes Ingersoll’s generosity by saying: “He does this with no strings attached and very little recognition. He calls up says he has the laptops, we make him take a couple of pictures, and he moves on.  He does this for all the right reasons — the students.”

Library media specialist Traci Cook said the new laptops are currently being worked on by the district’s information technology department to make them compatible to the district’s networks, and will soon be available for loan. For students who have limited access to technology, the loaned laptops significantly ease the stress of completing online assignments.

It makes school less stressful for [students]. They do not have to write out assignments by hand, they can access class assignments and other school resources at any time with a computer,” Cook says. “They don’t have to worry about getting to the public library to use a computer or trying to stay after school to work on a computer.”

The laptops were initially given to Sarah Roy, DECO director and Dean of Student Support. DECO students were given priority, but as the collection has grown, more students have been able to secure access. Some of the laptops have been assigned to ISS, where there previously had been only two desktops available.

“The purpose of the laptops is for them to be loaned out to students who don’t have them at home,” Roy says. “[One student] was even able to express her gratitude [for them] right in person, which was really nice.”