- OLD BRIDGE, NJ– Blonder Tongue Laboratories answered the call for support and donated much needed equipment to Brown-Barge Middle School in Pensacola, FL to upgrade school’s CATV system.
- Brown-Barge Middle School, Pensacola, FL, which serves grades 6 through 8 and has a student population of 550, recently moved to a new facility at an existing local school site. The Instructional TV (ITV) system in the new site did not have the broadcast functionality required to accommodate Brown-Barge’s curriculum. Further, an HVAC installation caused damage to the system which caused problems throughout the school (splitters reversed, lines cut, bad terminations, etc).
- School administrators saw this as an opportunity for students to participate in a hands-on project. Brown-Barge Middle school teamed up with the Cox Telecommunications Academy and Training Facility at the West Florida High School of Advanced Technology, to have the high school students design, and install an updated ITV system. Fifty
- students from Cox participated in the project which included school site surveys, drafting technical plans, and formulating a plan of action.
- “This presented a great opportunity for our local High School academy to get some real-world experience by re-designing and re-building our ITV infrastructure,” states Steven T. Harrell, Technology Coordinator (Career and Tech Education), Brown Barge Middle School.
- Blonder Tongue Laboratories donated the agile modulators and various passive components which were used in the installation.
- “The project benefits all students and families at Brown-Barge. We were thrilled to receive equipment from Blonder Tongue to assist us in the delivery of our curriculum. Thank you very much for your support of public schools and our mission,” states Dr. Patricia G. Kerrigan, Principal of the Brown-Barge Middle School, Escambia County School District in Pensacola, Florida.
- Using Blonder Tongue equipment, Cox students installed a new system which can broadcast up to 100 channels to all of the classrooms.
- “It took about 6 months for the students to complete the project. This is longer than a private contractor would have taken, but the experience our students gained was worth the extra time," says Mr. Harrell.
