Several high school students will have the opportunity to utilize modern technology in the classroom.

The Lower Pearl River Valley Foundation gave Poplarville High School’s Career Development Center a $3,000 grant for 11 iPads, along with health-related apps and protective cases, which will be provided to high school students in the health sciences program.

Poplarville High School teacher Candis Thompson, R.N. contacted the foundation after seeing the need for technology in her classroom.

“The computers in our classroom aren’t up-to-date. The school works with the best that they have, but it would be a lot easier for the students to use iPads,” Thompson said.

While she said her students sometimes receive hands-on training at the local hospital, she wanted to make the classroom as real as the hospital experience.

“Even when we’re in the classroom, we want to make it as real as possible. We have hospital beds and dummies in class and it would be great for students to be able to work with iPads like they do in a real hospital,” Thompson said.

She added that the students are excited about the iPads and they should be receiving them in the next couple of weeks.

In a press release from the Lower Pearl River Valley Foundation, Sid Whitley, chief executive officer of the foundation, said the purpose of the grant is to prepare students for a future career in healthcare.