Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey gifted Poplar Bluff Schools $2,200 worth of classroom technology and equipment.

Senior High will receive nervous system models, Junior High will get a 3-D printer and Oak Grove – a set of Hokki Stools as a result of Dorsey’s string of generosity toward his homestate of Missouri.

The three education projects were among several hundred Dorsey financed through the not-for-profit website, DonorsChoose.org, during a ‘flash funding’ event celebrities and philanthropists participated in Thursday, March 10, known by the hashtag #BestSchoolDay over social media.

“My philosophy is it doesn’t hurt to try, and it paid off this time,” stated R-I Instructional Technology Facilitator Candace Warren, who wrote the 3-D printer proposal. “I love when people in positions of power give to education, because it’s so very important.”

The printer will become part of a makerspace likely centrally-located in the library, allowing for students studying velocity to design wheels for diecast cars, for example.

Brain, ear and eye models will be purchased at the high school for anatomy and physiology students to study the nervous system beyond looking at a diagram.

“I didn’t even know #BestSchoolDay was happening,” exclaimed PBHS science teacher Stephanie Hillis, who has successfully had two other classroom projects sponsored on DonorsChoose this school year. “I opened my email and was amazed that my huge project was funded by one person.”

Special education teacher Courtney Rutledge of Oak Grove has had three other projects paid for through multiple donations on the site. The four stools—ergonomically designed to allow for rocking, twisting and turning—will allow the elementary students to burn some energy while performing academic tasks that require focus.

“DonorsChoose is a great tool in helping teachers connect with individuals that can financially afford to help supply materials that our budget is unable to provide,” said Rutledge, noting this was her most costly request to date. “The donor was an even bigger surprise.”

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Cutline: A hand replica is shown with a skeleton structure intact during a 3-D printer demonstration at the Poplar Bluff Technical Career Center.