An apple for the teacher? Well, not quite.

How about becoming an Apple Distinguished School? That’s more like it.

“Apple Distinguished Schools are centers of leadership and educational excellence ​that demonstrate Apple’s vision for learning with technology—and we believe they are some of the most innovative schools in the world,” says Apple on their Apple Distinguished Schools program website.

The Apple Distinguished Schools program is part of Apple’s vision to use Apple products to “connect students to the world, fuel creativity, deepen collaboration, and make learning personal,” according to their website.

The Beaver Area school district—specifically middle and high school—is trying its best to become one of over 1,000 Apple Distinguished Schools worldwide. But before we can get that title, there are a few qualifications that have to be met.

According to Apple, 75 percent of staff has to be Apple certified first. Luckily for us, our staff is on top of the game in both middle and high schools, so they didn’t have to worry about that part.

Next, a school has to be recommended TO Apple BY Apple—confusing, I know, but that’s where the Apple Visit comes in.

January 15, Apple sent two regional representatives to our campus—specifically, four classrooms from the middle school hallway and four classrooms in the high school.

The Apple representatives work with integration of Apple in education, and they visited our building as a part of the “Apple distinguished schools application process,” explained Beaver Area Assistant Superintendent Emily Sanders.

The Apple representatives look into how the school integrates technology (from iPads and Apple Pencils to Google’s services) into teaching and learning, and decide whether or not they want to continue with the process.

Luckily for us, Apple was thoroughly impressed with our teachers and students and how we “utilize technology in the classroom,” said Ms. Sanders. “Because of that they are nominating us to apply for an Apple distinguished schools designation for both middle school and the high school.”

Currently, there are only two school districts in the state that have all of their buildings Apple Certified. If Beaver Area can achieve this, we would be “the third district in the state to have this distinction,” said Ms. Sanders.

However, Apple did have some suggestions for the school. They encouraged administration to implement student choice and project based learning activities—but again, they were “thoroughly impressed” with what they had already seen.

The next step in the operation is for Beaver Area to complete some essays for the application and for students to film some short three minute videos showing how “technology and certain strategies enhance learning.”

After that we wait.

The deadline for the videos is sometime from April to June, and we will hear back from Apple sometime in August or September.

If we get chosen for Apple’s program, we can expect support for school leaders through “leadership events, opportunities to engage with experts, and collaboration with peers who share an interest in innovative learning and teaching,” reports Apple.

Until then: fingers crossed . . .