Students from P.S./I.S. 499 recently marveled at their school’s new media lab.
Second, fifth and seventh graders joined parents, faculty and Councilmember James Gennaro at the school, located at 148-20 Reeves Avenue in Flushing, for a ribbon cutting ceremony on January 13 held to officially unveil the center.
The media lab, made possible through Resolution A funding procured by Gennaro’s office, comes complete with Smart Boards, laptop computers, desktop computers, a server, a teacher’s station and two carts to transport the laptops from class to class.
“I think talent plus tools equal success,” Gennaro told the students during the ceremony. “You never know where life is going to take you, but if you use your talent to the best of your ability and really believe in yourself, you can make amazing things happen.”
During the ceremony, several of the school’s 480 students expressed their appreciation to the councilmember by reading thank you letters they wrote.
Parents in attendance joined their children in expressing astonishment and gratitude for the lab.
“The official title for the school is the Queens College School for Math, Science, and Technology, and the new media center really puts a capital “T” in technology,” said Wayne De La Roche, whose daughter is a third grader at the school. “The children are going to learn skills that are going to give them a new life, and they could not be more excited. When the center was opened, the children were seated for the first time in this media center, and I asked them if they were excited, and their eyes widened as though they were opening a present on Christmas morning.”
