McNair students and staff joined with Jane Strauss, Dranesville District school board member and Jack Dale, Fairfax County Public Schools superintendent, to initiate the school's most recent business partnership with Cox Communications Dec. 2 in front of flashing cameras and a rolling video recorder.
As a part of the ceremony, Cox Communications brought its technical staff to tape the event which Scott Broyles, vice president of public affairs for Cox, said will hopefully be run on Cox Channel 35 in the upcoming weeks.
"We have 900 employees and we hope over the years to come, each of them will be able to come over and help you learn," said Broyles to the McNair student body.
Broyles explained the proximity of Cox Communications headquarters — up Centreville Road from McNair — will make working with the school easy.
"We'll be doing a lot of reading partners, homework buddies and mentoring," he said about what the partnership will entail. "We want to establish a partner buddy that kids can go to."
Along with the homework assistance, employees will also be available for guest speaker slots to talk about developing technology as well as offer children the opportunity to job shadow any employee of Cox Communications — from cable television installers to computer technicians.
In addition to school-year assistance, during the holiday season Cox Communications will select artwork from five students to use as its holiday cards.
This is the second year Cox has done this with McNair, and this year's winners — announced at the Dec. 2 assembly — were second grader Farishta Bismil, sixth graders Amy Chin and Aya Salaheldin and fifth graders Lisa Menjizar and Nithya Murali.
In addition to choosing five students from the roughly 300 pictures submitted, the company also donated a $500 check to the school to pay for art supplies.
<1b>—Brynn Grimley