WOW! WHAT A DAY!

The following explains the fantastic events of today! More media footage to come in the next few days, but you'll get the idea here:

It's not every day a 7-foot dog with green spots is seen outside of a terrible nightmare, but Friday in Tena Nelson's classroom at Fairfield Middle School, a 7-foot dog with green spots named Click made some dreams come true.

After receiving an e-mail earlier in the year forwarded to her from Principal Laura Atwood, Tena entered her class in a contest sponsored by Windstream Communications. Windstream provides DSL internet, phone service, and digital television to its customers, and their contest, called Windstream Connects: SchoolsWIN, was created to give back to schools and communities across the nation.

Applicants were asked to join through Facebook and/or Twitter. They were asked what they would use $1000 for in their classrooms and what kind of challenge they would have for Click the Dog if their school was chosen. Miss Nelson wrote, "Budget cuts are killing our students' access to technology! I'd love to have 2 iPads to share to allow students to skype with authors, create online presentations, and to write their own blogs... and, that's just the beginning! I want to help create 21st century citizens, but I need the hardware to do it! Come to Fairfield Middle School in Fairfield, IA! My students have been debating issues in class this week... feel like getting into a heated debate about mandatory dress code, Click?"

Superintendent Art Sathoff and Principal Laura Atwood were notified on Thursday that Fairfield Middle School's entry to the contest had been chosen and that Tena Nelson's classroom would be receiving $1000. On Friday morning, the Windstream Classroom Caravan pulled up outside Fairfield Middle School, and Click the dog, Windstream's loyal mascot, jumped out to greet the practicing FMS Marching Band.

Click and the Windstream crew visited Miss Nelson's classroom and presented her with a check for $1000. Since Click neither speaks nor wears clothes over his fur, the debate about dress code was dropped and replaced with an impromptu dance celebration. Miss Nelson hopes to use the money to purchase as least one, hopefully two, iPads for classroom use on a variety of projects. Before leaving the building, the Windstream group met many students throughout FMS and informed them that they were now eligible for a 25,000 prize if they document a community service project and upload the video to their website. Footage of Friday's events can be seen soon on the Windstream website at www.schoolswin.windstream.com/caravan.