Take One Lenovo Tablet and Call for Climate Change in the Morning

Lenovo (News - Alert), the personal computing innovator with U.S. headquarters in Morrisville, North Carolina, announced on August 8 that students in an elite international summer program partially funded by the company are using its latest tablets to conduct social action and community service projects that encourage energy conservation.

The 48 students from a total of 15 high schools in China, Japan, Jordan, Singapore, and the United States gathered at Punahou School in Honolulu from July 25 through August 5 for a Student Global Leadership Institute (SGLI) that featured experiential learning and cultural exchange, following a yearlong collaboration on student-generated community programs.

The SGLI curriculum comprised workshops and guest lecturers – among them, U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Dr. Steven Chu; State of Hawaii Lt. Governor Brian Schatz; Darren Kimura, president and CEO of Sopogy, a clean-energy company that pioneered Micro-Scaled Concentrating Solar Power technologies; and James Koshiba, co-founder and executive director of Kanu Hawai‘i, a nonprofit that seeks to build a culture of sustainability.

As part of this year’s program, Lenovo deployed 65 new Ideapad K1Tablets  to participants. Students are using the devices to:

• Help them stay connected now that they have returned to their communities;  
• Track project progress; and
• Record their experiences as they address current, pressing energy issues through field studies and community services.

Following last week’s group program at Punahou, students returned to their homes, ready to use the tablets to help them conduct energy related social action and community service projects. They are already using apps like eBuddy Messenger and Documents to Go to share data and insight with their program peers in real time.

“Through generous support from the Education Research Initiative – a partnership of Lenovo, Intel and Microsoft (News - Alert) – SGLI students are able to embrace innovative mobile technologies as an essential component in building a global community of youth leaders dedicated to positive change,” said Jim Scott, president of the Punahou School, host of the Student Global Leadership Institute. 

“SGLI fosters the same type of “do” culture we strive to cultivate at Lenovo,” said Michael Schmedlen, the company’s director of Worldwide Education. “We are proud to support the academic portion of the institute through our Education Research Initiative (ERI) and support the technology needs of these global students with our IdeaPad K1 Tablets.  By focusing on learning outcomes, global collaboration across three continents, and an unparalleled student experience powered by Lenovo, SGLI is truly innovating in edtech.”

Established in July 2010, the Student Global Leadership Institute (SGLI) is an annual initiative made possible by generous grants from the Edward E. Ford Foundation and the Education Research Initiative, with additional support from the Freeman Foundation and the Luke Center for Chinese Studies. The purpose of the Institute is to develop a community of international youth leaders who understand and are engaged in shared global challenges and who galvanize positive social change.

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