Students in 26 schools around the state now have access to more than $3 million worth of technology many never had before, thanks to Sandia’s K-12 Computer Donation Program. This year the program was able to donate 1,615 desktop and laptop computers and more than 1,000 computer accessories, including mice, keyboards, monitors, and printers. In addition, students were able to get their hands on 401 iPads distributed to schools.

“This is the first time we have ever included iPads and it was a huge hit with the recipients,” says Reapplication Team Lead Michael Somuk (10264-1). Michael has been involved with the program since 2015 when he became lead of the reapplication team.

Of the 26 schools that received equipment, roughly half were located in the Albuquerque metro area, with eight in Silver City, five in Hatch, and one in Cliff.

The program is the result of a partnership between Community Involvement and Property Management and Reapplication and authorized under Executive Order 12999, which allows agencies to transfer to schools educationally useful federal equipment no longer in use.

“We truly look forward to this event every year, since it allows us to demonstrate our commitment to Sandia’s tradition of giving back to our community. Many of these recipients have told us that if it wasn’t for this event, they would not be able to obtain these resources on their own and would have to cancel programs that require IT resources,” Michael says. “The team works extremely hard to get this right and it really gives us a great feeling to know that in some way we are contributing to the education and advancement of so many New Mexico students, some of whom could be future Sandians.”