It's time once again for the U.S. Cellular “Calling All Communities" contest—which awards $1 million to schools to improve the education of students. The campaign invites communities to band together to vote for their school by visiting their local U.S. Cellular store to pick up a voting code and entering it online at uscellular.com.
Voting begins this Friday, Sept. 14, and runs through Oct. 21.
The school that garners the most community votes will win $150,000 and the next 17 schools with the most votes will receive $50,000. Calling All Communities is open to all K-12 schools—big or small, public or private. Each winning school can use the money however it chooses.
To take part in the contest, parents, teachers and any other resident over the age of 18 can head to any U.S. Cellular store and fill out a ballot.
St. Damian School already has a plan in place for the contest.
“This year, they're doing it a bit differently,” said Colleen Domke, St. Damian's Principal. “Last year you could vote as many times as you wanted. This year though, you can only vote once, but we've got a plan to get as many votes as we can.”
While Domke didn't want to reveal exactly how St. Damian would go about trying to win the contest, she did point out that some St. Damian mothers are spearheading the efforts.
“They're a small group, but they're going to all the store in the area and we've started a website, too,” Domke said.
The website, which features a form residents can fill out to cast their vote, can be found at www.stdamiancontest.com.
Domke added that should the school win, parents will be casting another vote on how to spend the money. She said that some of the options included whiteboards in classrooms, new technology in classrooms and several other options.
Voting is currently underway and will end on Oct. 21, with the winners announced on Nov. 25.
Sincerely, Billy O'Malley