Annual charity drive will help severely disabled students communicate

Cottonwood High School’s student body officers were charged with choosing a charity again this year for their annual charity drive. Each officer brings his or her ideas and marketing proposals before the group in hopes their favorite will be chosen, but with so many great ideas and organizations, it is always difficult to choose just one.

This year, the organization chosen by the students was an idea brought to the table by Chloe Murphy, the senior class secretary. Chloe pitched her idea to raise funds for The Opportunity Foundation of America, a nonprofit organization that has brought the Eagle Eyes technology to Utah students with severe disabilities. Chloe said after volunteering with her mother at Jordan Valley School and seeing firsthand how amazing the technology was, she desperately wanted to help.

“I was really excited when I found out they had chosen Eagle Eyes; not many people know about it,” Chloe said. “I want to help the Opportunity Foundation of America become better known and also raise money for them to help more families.”

The Eagle Eyes technology was developed at Boston College by computer science professor James Gips in 1994. In an effort to reach a broader population, Gips partnered with The Opportunity Foundation of America in 2003 and now have 82 systems in operation worldwide, 45 of which are in Utah. Jordan Valley School is the flagship school for the Eagle Eyes technology in Utah. Several volunteers who work with the foundation attend the school twice a month allowing a different child each time access to Eagle Eyes twice a week.

“I am embracing Eagle Eyes because it allows students that only have the movement of their eyes, and no other part of their bodies to have a voice. It allows some of these students to be able to control the curser of a computer through the movements of their eyes,” Jordan Valley Principal Mark Donnelly said. “It allows the potential of these students to have control over something in their lives and allows them to learn more about what cause and effect is, and such a discovery can empower them. Those working with students with special needs all know how smart the students are. Eagle Eyes though, allows them to have a way of showing more people how intelligent they really are.”

The student body officers are raising funds through various activities such as pictures with Santa, penny wars and a charity assembly in hopes of reaching their goal of $17,000 by Dec.16.

“We are so excited that the students at Cottonwood High School choose Eagle Eyes,” The Opportunity Foundation of America Executive Director Debbie Inkley. “The money raised will go into individual systems that cost $1,200 each. Many families cannot afford Eagle Eyes, and this will allow us to get more systems in use.”