A rural school at the cutting-edge of education

At Mohave Valley Junior High School, in Mohave Valley, Arizona, students get to try 3D printing, explore coding and design, experiment with virtual reality, and play with graphic design. It’s no secret that students love the school’s Verizon Innovative Learning Lab technology, but the educators are enjoying it, too. “I like being able to be on the cutting edge of what education can look like,” says Michael Ingerson, a Lab Mentor at the school.

For the students in this rural district, “the Verizon Innovative Learning Lab technology and curriculum has provided access to our students that they did not have before,” says Charlotte Hansen, principal at the school. “This kind of access matters because most of our students do not have the means at home or the experiences that most other students have in their homes. And so we’re able to provide those experiences at school, which could be life-changing for them.”

The struggling school suffered from low enrollment, with many families opting to send their children to charter schools instead. Today, however, Mohave Valley’s test scores are up, the school raised its Arizona state rating to just shy of an A, Hansen says, and it has become a school of choice for area families. “Because of this offering, the community has rallied behind us, and students have come here because of the experiences that the Verizon Innovative Learning Lab provides them,” Hansen says.

In 2023, Mohave Valley also won the prestigious Golden Bell Award, in the elementary school category. The Arizona School Boards Association (ASBA) gives the awards to educators and administrators in districts that achieve excellence through their educational initiatives. Mohave Valley achieved recognition for emerging technology in the classroom and giving students opportunities to learn college and career-ready skills.

While some students take an elective that gives them access to the Verizon Innovative Learning Lab, the entire student body has access to the technology, thanks to mobile tech carts that move from room to room. “The mobile technology allows all students and every subject to have access to that specific technology,” Hansen explains. “So it’s equitable access to all of our students.”

Access to technology, says Hansen, is quickly transforming students into confident young tech leaders. In just two years of the school using 3D modeling software and 3D printing, for example, “we have many experts now within our student population,” the principal says. As a result, many are now considering tech-focused careers, she says.

Ingerson, moreover, sees some of his students quickly outpacing their mentors. “There are instances where we see students becoming the masters of these tools and of this subject matter,” he says. “As teachers, we try to provide the experience for them, but sometimes they grow beyond what even we know.”

Parents, too, have seen how engagement with technology impacts their kids. Ashley Huff says her son, Andrew Ocampo, was amazed by all the lab technology has to offer at Mohave Valley. “He didn’t know something like this could exist,” Huff says.

Now, she says, Andrew is a new student who is more excited about going to school. “I’ve seen changes in Andrew in regard to being more independent in his learning, wanting to take control of his life, and being more creative at home with different objects and different art,” Huff says.

For seventh grader Greg Koczko, “the use of technology and lab classes definitely opened me up to different careers,” he says. Taking part in film classes turned a possible career interest into something more. “My goal was to be a cameraman before going here,” Koczko says. “Having access to all these different things has made me think differently about my career — now I want to be a director.”

But it’s not just their futures that have potential. The access to technology, Hansen says, is impacting her students right here and now. “[Verizon provided] amazing technology that is going to change their lives — that is changing their lives,” she says.

Verizon Innovative Learning is a key part of Citizen Verizon, the company’s responsible business plan to help move the world forward for all. As part of the plan, Verizon has an ambitious goal of providing 10 million youth with digital skills training by 2030. Visit CitizenVerizon.com to learn more about the company’s responsible business efforts. Educators can access free lessons, professional development, and immersive learning experiences to help bring new ways of learning into the classroom by visiting Verizon Innovative Learning HQ.