2024 LTC Awards Announced

Dixon Public Schools has been selected as the 2024 LTC Vision Award winner for their innovative Drone Soccer program. This program immerses students in building, programming, operating, and repairing drones, fostering teamwork and STEM skills in a competitive environment. 

A part of U.S. Drone Soccer, the Dixon program adheres to the organization’s ruleset and code of conduct, emphasizing inclusivity by creating diverse, co-ed teams. Drone Soccer has provided these students with an empowering experience, demonstrating that they can master and innovate with advanced technology. The program has also inspired students to consider careers in the drone industry, and many are eager to advance their skills for future competitions.

The LTC Vision Award recognizes innovative or exemplary projects that empower the use of technology and/or digital learning within the classroom. These projects demonstrate a clear vision of technology in education, a strong impact within their target populations, and serve as examples for other districts and teams.

United Township High School District 30, Colona School District 190, and East Moline School District 37 have been selected as the 2024 LTC Collaboration Award winner for their groundbreaking LinQ wi-fi project. This innovative, multi-district initiative aims to bridge the digital divide by providing reliable internet access for over 4,500 students, regardless of socioeconomic background. 

The LinQ wi-fi project extends a private wireless network beyond school campuses, reaching underserved neighborhoods. Using advanced mesh technology, cybersecurity tools, and cloud-based network management, the project offers students secure, consistent access to online learning resources at home.

This connectivity empowers teachers to adopt more interactive learning strategies, fostering critical thinking, problem-solving, and independent learning skills among students. The initiative also reflects a strong commitment to digital equity and inclusion, with partnerships involving local governments, technology providers, and community organizations. 

The LTC Collaboration Award recognizes innovative or exemplary projects that impact multiple districts, schools, educators, and students throughout the state. These projects leverage partnerships and demonstrate a commitment to helping others beyond a single district.

ByteSpeed has been selected as the 2024 LTC Alliance Award winner for their dedicated support of Rockridge CUSD 300.

An ILTPP Vendor Partner, ByteSpeed exemplified their commitment to client success by providing immediate assistance to resolve major connectivity and storage issues that threatened the district’s virtual network environment. During a critical deployment, technical issues arose, and after extensive troubleshooting and storage upgrades, the virtual access point controller and all virtual machines (VM) on the host were lost. Bytespeed promptly stepped in, rebuilding the entire virtual environment from scratch and restoring full network stability in record time.

“If not for ByteSpeed’s immediate response, it would have taken me days to rebuild and recreate our VM environment,” said Jon Lehtola, Rockridge CUSD 300’s Technology Coordinator. 

The LTC Alliance Award recognizes private sector partners who uniquely support and impact school districts through collaborations, partnerships, and alignment with student learning.