Almost half of students across the country do not have Internet access at home.
Sprint is stepping in to help with it's One Million Hotspots campaign.
Over the next five years, Sprint will give away 1 million hotspots to students who don't have WiFi at home. Students in Kansas City Public School District (KCPS) are already benefiting from the program.
Keanu Truntine is a freshman at Central High School. He received a free hotspot last week.
"Before I had a hotspot I had to walk over to my friends house to use the Internet and do my homework; now (after receiving a hotspot) I have been able to get my homework turned in on time," explained Turntine.
Kansas City Public School District is the only school district enrolled in Sprint's pilot program in Missouri and Kansas. Five hundred KCPS students are slated to receive a free hotspot this year.
Nationally 250,000 students a year will receive Sprint hotspots over five years to reach the 1 million hotspot giveaway goal. Schools in California, Texas and Illinois are also participating.
The website for the 1 Million Project where schools and school districts can apply is www.sprint.com/1MillionProject. And, if anyone would like to donate to the program, they can visit www.sprint.com/give1MP.
Students receive 3 gigs of high speed Internet access a month. They are able to keep the devices during the school year and over the summer while they are in public school.
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Cynthia Newsome can be reached at Cynthia.Newsome@kshb.com.
