Native American teachers, entrepreneurs seek new ways to close digital divide

Mark Sorensen and members of the Navajo-run nonprofit Protect Native Elders wheeled squeaky metal carts stacked high with boxes of digital tablets along the winding gray sidewalk toward the STAR School. On this humid August day, the STAR School, an acronym for "Service to All Relations," is receiving a shipment of devices for their 130 students who are now spread out across the reservation, learning virtually.

As Sorensen pulls a cart, he passes his school's sign greeting visitors in Navajo with ya'at'eeh. Here at this edge of the Navajo Nation in northern Arizona, there is one feature of modern life that is notably absent from the gently sloping land: powerlines or even phone lines.

"From our very beginning, 20 years ago, we have been off-grid and solar-powered," said Sorensen, gesturing to the cluster of blue-roofed red buildings and hundreds of solar panels.

https://news.yahoo.com/native-american-teachers-entrepreneurs-seek-155439889.html