APC by Schneider Electric announces 2019 IT Makeover Contest for K-12 schools

MILWAUKEE - March 22, 2019 - PRLog -- Does your school or district have a problem IT area that's keeping your school from creating the best interactive learning environment? If so, plan to enter the 2019 K-12 IT Makeover Contest sponsored by APC by Schneider Electric's IT Solutions for Education for a chance to win $10,000 in improvements. The contest is open until June 30, 2019, and details are at http://k12makeover.apc.com .

"We had hundreds of entries into our 2018 contest that showed great need in their schools," explains Chris Musick, District Sales Manager, APC by Schneider Electric. "We were happy to award the $10,000 prize to St. Matthew School, located in Campbellsport, Wis., about 40 miles outside of Milwaukee."

St. Matthew has 104 K-8 students and a daycare that serves 200 children each week. The school prides itself on offering an education grounded in the Catholic faith but has difficulty keeping current with technology. Because of its limited resources, St. Matthew relies on volunteers like Terry Lemke of Lemke Consulting to wire, set up and maintain the school's computers.

Lemke, a volunteer with the school for more than 20 years, entered St. Matthew in the APC makeover Contest as soon as he learned about it.

After having already raised the funds for new student computers (to replace the 10-year-old computers), and with Lemke as their trusted advisor, the St. Matthew School chose new Lenovo computers—along with extended warranties and Microsoft Office licenses—for all teachers and staff. They also purchased three LCD (liquid crystal display) monitors and a 4K DLP (digital light processing) projector to enhance the student learning experience, and renewed their security and threat protection service.

To protect their server, the St. Matthew School also purchased an APC Smart-UPS (uninterruptable power supply) with SmartConnect Battery Backup with three-year onsite protection.

This cloud-enabled, next-generation Smart-UPS will protect the school's critical data from costly interruptions—and give the school added peace of mind, while allowing Lemke and other school volunteers to easily and remotely view its status, manage notifications and firmware updates, and receive advanced support.

Finally, APC by Schneider Electric noticed that the school's server was housed in a home-built wooden rack. To house and protect their equipment in a safer, more cost-effective way, APC by Schneider Electric decided to donate a new wall-mount server rack to the school—an excellent edge option for schools that do not have a dedicated server room or closet and minimal or no IT staff.

"We are very grateful for this generous gift," says Joan Wuest, Principal, St. Matthew School. "The grant has allowed us to finally get ahead of the game and let the teachers and staff spend less time on 'nursing' computers and more time nurturing and educating students."

"Selecting St. Matthew as the $10,000 contest winner was a no-brainer," says Musick. "In this industry, we work to provide a solution, not just a product. This is a fun way to work."

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