It’s back to school time. As children pack their backpacks to head back to the classroom, schools everywhere are busy preparing operations, including securing the critical technology infrastructure that help teachers teach and students learn.
Among the many education organizations that Symantec supports is The Einstein Project, a nonprofit in Wisconsin that provides more than 5,000 educators with the resources to deliver quality education across science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields. Launched when founders recognized the need for young children to go beyond the textbook and “get their hands dirty,” The Einstein Project is now celebrating its 25th anniversary, and fulfilling its mission by providing professional development for educators, community events, as well interactive units including hands-on science learning kits with live critters.
The organization relies heavily on technology, so when its servers were shut down for two days due to malware, The Einstein Project’s 11 paid employees were left with nothing to do except work on small projects and go home early. The majority of their work—from communicating with teachers to sending out kits with live critters like bugs, butterfly larvae, fish or snails—came to a standstill.
The Einstein Project needed a solution to safeguard against malware and other threats, however as a nonprofit, they had limited budget.
“Our team does important work to provide the best STEM education possible for teachers and students in Wisconsin. We can't do that if our technology is having problems, and frankly, I had started to have problems sleeping because I was worried that we might have another shutdown,” said Kelly Ellis, The Einstein Project, Executive Director.
Based on recommendations from two Board members as well as advice from IT experts at ZyQuest, the team selected Symantec, working through the TechSoup software donation program.
The nonprofit has never looked back or had any malware problems ever since.
“Using Symantec gave us peace of mind—our team now focuses on STEM education, not tech problems,” said Ellis.
For more on Symantec’s support for TechSoup, visit: http://www.techsoup.org/symantec