Careful readers will remember Sammie Garrity as the bright young woman (grade 6!) who joined the Minnesota Broadband Coalition at the Rural Broadband Day on the Hill. She wrote about her experience speaking on the panel and meeting policymakers and shakers.

Sammie is continuing to run with the idea that all students need broadband, so I’m pleased to share her recent letter to the Cook County Herald…

Dear Cook County Herald,

We in Cook County are so lucky to live in a place that has broadband internet service! It makes all kinds of high-quality things happen, and we should all tell our legislators that. I wrote to Sen. Tom Bakk about it and you should too.

For me, as a student, having high-speed access to the internet is super important in doing the best I can on my school work. We just finished our Science Fair, and without access to broadband that allows me to look up facts, pictures and essays/reports written by scientists and doctors, my project would be a failure.

To me broadband is one of the most important things that we have access to. If not, we would not be able to look things up for homework or prepare for college. All of those things are not being granted to other people in our state and I want to make a difference in that. I would appreciate it if you made hundreds of people’s lives easier by getting in contact with our community and spread the word more than everyone has.

Kids in Cook County are also just starting a new digital newspaper at www.borealcorps.org. Without broadband, we couldn’t do that. With it, we can make sure our voices are heard in the community, and we can help connect friends and neighbors.

Thank you Cook County for helping all us students succeed! I hope the rest of the kids in Minnesota get the great broadband service we do!

Sincerely,

Sammie Garrity