Amazon donates Kindles to students at Bachman Academy in McDonald, Tenn.CLEVELAND, Tenn. - Amazon representatives presented 50 Kindle touch-screen electronic readers to the students at Bachman Academy on Wednesday.
"They called last week and said, 'We have heard great things about what you are doing, and we want to get involved with the community,'" said Nikki Rigdon, Bachman's marketing and communications director.
"Private schools always have a long list of needs," Headmaster Mark Fizzell said. "We were more than thrilled."
Fizzell told Mike Thomas, Amazon's general manager in Bradley County, that "you guys have made a world of difference for our students."
The 37 students and their faculty gathered Wednesday morning on the front lawn to accept the Kindles from the Amazon fullfillment center here. They celebrated with snacks, and the Amazon representatives gave them an introductory lesson in how to use the readers.
Bachman, a boarding and day school on 210 acres on Brymer Creek Road here, serves grades six through 12. Its students have learning difficulties, such as dyslexia and attention deficit disorder, and come from across the United States and other countries.
Citing Bachman's slogan, "A different school for different learners," Amazon spokesman Ty Rogers said the school "has a reputation for being creative and innovative, and that's what we encourage them to do here."
The Kindles come with a bonus gift: $1,500 the school can spend for content for the readers, including textbooks.
The Bachman Memorial Home began in 1912 in Farner, Tenn. It moved to Bradley County in the 1950s as an orphanage, and in 1999 its board changed the name to Bachman Academy and its focus to education.