Community member donates laptops to students’ families

Several families from Sunnyvale’s Lakewood Elementary School have received laptops courtesy of generous donors.

Pavan Lanka and his wife Apara Ranjan donated six Dell computers to students and their families, despite the couple not having any children attending the school. Lanka, who works in tech, volunteers his time teaching coding to students and literacy through Reading Partners.

One parent, Rocio Vargas, said the computer will help further the education for her two daughters, who are in first and third grade.

“I feel really fortunate to get this for my kids. It’s a great tool for learning, and I think that these days that kids need to know how to operate a computer in order to learn and be competitive in school and later,” said Vargas.

“Today everything is done on websites and on the internet. I’m so happy right now to get this, really happy,” said parent Noe Hernandez.

Lanka will also donate his time in the form of leading monthly trouble-shooting workshops so families can better use the laptops and learn how to monitor their children’s use of the device.

“Being exposed to computers as a kid taught me a lot. There was so much I could learn just from going online, going to Internet forums and asking questions,” said Lanka.

According to Principal Pamela Cheng, recipients were chosen based on who would get the most benefit from having a laptop. Families with multiple students who were willing to support their educational endeavors were also targeted,

“It’s a great tool for learning, and I think that these days that kids need to know how to operate a computer in order to learn and be competitive in school and later.” — Rocio Vargas, parent

as were students whose teachers felt they were motivated in school and in using technology.

“We looked at parent leaders because this is the first round (of this program) and we plan to continue this,” said Cheng. “We wanted parents that could continue to support other parents in the future.”