Actor James Earl Jones, Verizon representative Lance Chrisman, Ocean View Hills Teacher Tina
Randolph, Principal Jose Valdivia, and San Ysidro School District Superintendent Tim Allen were
all extremely pleased to present the Verizon Yellow Pages check for $25,000 to the school.

Renowned Actor, Voice James Earl Jones
Helps Verizon Award $25,000 Literacy-Tech Grant
to San Ysidro School

Verizon-County Office of Education Partnership
To Yield Computers-on-Wheels System to K-8 School

James Earl Jones, the star of hundreds of stage and screen productions and the voice of famed characters Darth Vader and King Mufasa, visited San Ysidro’s Ocean View Hills School recently, discussing his love of reading, the satisfactions of acting, and congratulating the school for winning the inaugural $25,000 Verizon Yellow Pages Technology in Education grant.

“You are a smart group of people, and you are going places in your lives,” Jones told the elementary and middle school journalism students, in his resounding basso-profundo. “Now, how can I tell that? Well, there are a lot of clues. But you love to read and write.”

Jones, a representative of Verizon Yellow Pages, was at the school to present the company’s check to Ocean View Hills Principal Jose Valdivia, teacher Tina Randolph and district superintendent Tim Allen.

Randolph authored the winning grant in the Verizon Technology in Education program, which was developed in partnership with the San Diego County Office of Education.

The grant application asked school personnel to write about how much writing students currently do, what they’ve done to improve student writing, how technology is used to improve writing, and how a computers-on-wheels system would be used by teachers throughout the school to improve writing.

Randolph, whose journalists have tackled issues such as airport expansion and cafeteria food nutritional value, said the new computers will spur even greater accomplishments by her students.

“Our kids are constantly writing,” she said. “And they’re doing something with their writing. They’re taking it to the next level, and seeing how they can impact others. That’s what I really like, and this grant is going to help us do even more of that.”

Randolph said the computers will be used by teachers throughout the school, in addition to her journalism classes. “It's very exciting,” she said. “We can’t wait to get them.”