First all-fiber community in Nevada after buildout<\/p>\n
Just a few weeks ago, veteran school counselor Teresa Sullivan was monitoring two classrooms full of freshmen and sophomores taking a Nye County-issued academic test at Beatty High School. Too many students were struggling \u2014 and it wasn\u2019t because of the difficulty of the questions. It was the Internet connection. They kept losing it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019d raise their hands and say, \u2018Mrs. Sullivan, I\u2019m getting an error message\u2019 or \u2018I\u2019ve lost my connection again,\u2019 \u201d Sullivan said. On one morning, more than a half dozen students needed to be moved to another computer, or begin their test all over again, resulting in frayed nerves and time lost.
\nSept. 15, that scenario was officially reversed. Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval joined executives with Valley Communications Association (VCA) to celebrate the school\u2019s connection to a fiber-optic circuit, the first link in a chain making Beatty Nevada\u2019s first all-fiber community.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a big day for rural Nevada,\u201d said Gov. Sandoval. \u201cResidents who choose to live in small rural communities like Beatty know that there are tradeoffs to the wide-open spaces and more simple, rural lifestyle. Total access to the Internet through fiber optics will eliminate a huge barrier, which has long-range impacts ranging from medical care to education and even to economic development.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe rest of Beatty will be right behind the high school when it comes to high-speed communications,\u201d said Valley Electric CEO Thomas H. Husted. \u201cHigh-speed broadband is just as important in Beatty as it is in Las Vegas, Reno or anywhere else in the country. Our Cooperative is proud to help bring this important technology to rural residents of our great state.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sandoval said he was impressed to learn that the connection in Beatty will provide students with the same access as they might get in New York City or Chicago.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s why I like to say Nevada and Beatty punches above its weight,\u201d he said to students in the crowd. \u201cAll of the opportunities are here. It\u2019s up to you to take it and use it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fiber-optic is state of the art infrastructure in communications. It is faster and more efficient than cable.<\/p>\n
To mark the achievement, a ribbon spanned the Beatty High School gym. Beatty High School senior Halen Grover and junior Miguel Castro joined the governor and other officials to cut the ribbon.<\/p>\n
The Hornet\u2019s gym was abuzz with activity packed with Beatty High School students joined by middle and elementary school students who walked almost a mile to be part of the celebration. VEA Ambassadors in their signature blue shirts rounded out the crowd.
\nThe trip was a big deal for many Ambassadors, but perhaps none more so than Belinda and Kenneth King.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the first function I have been able to attend since I had to resign in February as chairman of the Legislative Committee because I was given three weeks to live,\u201d Belinda said as she waited for the ceremony to begin.<\/p>\n
Now in full-remission after intensive cancer treatment, she said it was a miracle she could be there to see VEA\u2019s achievement.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wanted to be here to uplift Valley Electric,\u201d Belinda said. \u201cI\u2019ve always been active in it. And this is the first time I\u2019ve been back.\u201d<\/p>\n
Husted said bringing fiber optics to Beatty was not easy.<\/p>\n
\u201cQuite frankly it was extremely difficult at times. We faced many challenges,\u201d he said. \u201cBut Valley Electric Association through the pioneering spirit that we\u2019ve had for 52 years is alive and well today. Bringing power to Beatty and all the other remote valleys 52 years ago was difficult also. At Valley doing the difficult thing is a day-to-day job for us. It\u2019s in our DNA.\u201d<\/p>\n
At Beatty High School, part of a school district that spans 18,000 square miles and home to 125 students, unreliable internet connection has for years compromised the quality of education, where most lesson plans are Internet-based. Teachers grade, take attendance and communicate with parents via cyberspace. A program known as \u201cDistance Education\u201d allows students to repeat failed classes from home.<\/p>\n
\u201cContinual breakdowns just stop you in your tracks,\u201d said Rob Williams, Director of Technology for Nye County School District and former principal at Beatty and Amargosa schools. \u201cAnd the students knew that they were missing out. When they call from home and say they can\u2019t get online, we couldn\u2019t fix that for them. Fiber-optics will make a massive difference.\u201d<\/p>\n
Husted said only a few short years ago the idea of gigabit broadband service in Beatty was a distant dream.
\n\u201cSome said it was a fantasy, but here it is,\u201d he said. \u201cBeatty serves as an example to all of rural Nevada that high speed communications, just like energy, is not a luxury. It\u2019s critical infrastructure that\u2019s needed everywhere, and it can happen everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nye Country Superintendent of Schools Dale A. Norton said internet is like water and power in today\u2019s world, and he\u2019s excited to see where access leads the district.
\n\u201cI am proclaiming as we move forward, with a focus on student learning, that Nye County School District will the fastest growing county in education in the state of Nevada,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Julie Moen, who teaches Consumer Science and Career Education, says that rural students like those at Beatty High deserve every technological advantage that their urban counterparts have.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re trying to help kids negotiate the 21st century,\u201d said the teaching veteran of three decades. \u201cYou don\u2019t want to go backwards. If your entire educational system is technology-based, you need quick and easy access to that technology.\u201d
\nThe public safety benefits of fiber-optic capability in rural towns will be a game changer, said Dr. Michael Reiner, a family practitioner, who operates the Beatty Medical clinic. \u201cWe were about to shut down the medical clinic in Beatty because of reduced patient visits and high cost of providing services.
\n\u201cWith fiber coming into Beatty, I agreed to keep a provider in the medical center on a limited basis knowing that it would allow us to have a virtual provider there five days a week, eight hours per day,\u201d said Reiner. \u201cThis is absolutely the difference between us being in Beatty to support the town and us not being there. Patients will not have to travel 68 to 200 miles round trip on a very dangerous highway to obtain simple medical care. I am very excited for what this means to the town and to its health.\u201d<\/p>\n
Through its VCA subsidiary, Valley Electric Association (VEA), has plans to provide broadband connectivity throughout large sections of rural Nevada. \u201cWe\u2019ve partnered with Switch and Churchill County Communications to provide fiber to rural communities along the route from Las Vegas to Reno,\u201d said Husted. \u201cHigh-speed broadband is no longer a luxury; it\u2019s a necessity. Our continued expansion of fiber-optic capabilities will allow rural communities to participate in community and economic development opportunities like their urban counterparts, becoming more self-sufficient in the process.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
First all-fiber community in Nevada after buildout Just a few weeks ago, veteran school counselor Teresa Sullivan was monitoring two classrooms full of freshmen and sophomores taking a Nye County-issued academic test at Beatty High School. Too many students were struggling \u2014 and it wasn\u2019t because of the difficulty of the questions. It was the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":35836,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2024-04-14 12:45:07","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/valleycom.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35630"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/valleycom.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/valleycom.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valleycom.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valleycom.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35630"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/valleycom.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35630\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valleycom.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/valleycom.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valleycom.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valleycom.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}