Louisiana First Lady Supriya Jindal visited the Lynn Oaks School in Braithwaite to celebrate the donation of two interactive technology whiteboards to the school and students. The boards, given by the First Lady’s foundation and in conjunction with their partnership with Walmart, are among the many being given out statewide.

Louisiana First Lady Supriya Jindal, as part of her foundation’s advocacy to stress math and science in education, attended a presentation at the Lynn Oaks School, where two high-tech whiteboards were installed.

The Supriya Jindal Foundation for Louisiana’s Children and Walmart have been working together to install Promethean interactive whiteboard systems in 267 classrooms across the state of Louisiana. Jindal said that technology, like the donated boards, help engage children more, and have been shown to increase retention rates and even classroom attendance.

“When you look outside the classroom, children have instant access through technology,” Jindal said. “They are very interactive with technology, and a lot of schools in the state have that technology now. These tools are showing incredible results.”

Local Walmart Manager Jim Craddock also attended the ceremony, and said both his store and Walmart overall were happy to be working to better the communities and people surrounding their stores.

Walmart works with the foundation, Jindal said, to get the interactive technology boards to children, and the foundation then decides how to distribute.

Jindal said the initiative is targeted at first and second grade classrooms for now, but as the foundation continues their work, the hope is to expand into higher grade-levels.

The Supriya Jindal Foundation for Louisiana’s Children is a non-profit organization that seeks to aid Louisiana’s children in all aspects of education, with special attention on math and science. By harnessing the power of technology in Louisiana classrooms, the foundation hopes to develop a better workforce for the state.

Story and photo by William Dilella