WASHINGTON, D.C., NECC Booth #2960 – June 29, 2009 – Serif Inc., a leading developer of affordable and accessible professional design, desktop publishing and graphics software popular with many schools, today announced its award-winning programs comprising the Serif Design Suite have been aligned to the 21st Century Community Learning Centers Grant program, which is run by the U.S. Department of Education. Serif worked with Educational Resources, one of the nation’s leading resellers of academic software, hardware, accessories, and supplemental products, to attain the designation which will enable schools to purchase Serif products using federal grant money. Executives will be discussing the program at The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE®) National Educational Computing Conference (NECC) in Washington, D.C., June 29 – 30 and July 1, 2009, in booth #2960.
The 21st Century Community Learning Centers Grant program supports local centers that give students from low-performing and high-poverty schools academic-enrichment opportunities through a broad array of before- and after-school and summer activities. The Serif Design Suite, which includes everything students need for bitmap and vector drawing, animation, desktop publishing and web publishing, will enable students involved in the program to achieve outstanding work across multiple subjects while developing their design and creativity skills to prepare them for the competitive workplace.
“Many educators are hitting harsh economic times while striving to maintain their high academic standards. Serif understands this financial pinch, and we are very pleased to have been accepted into the 21st Century Community Learning Centers Grant program which will help ease this burden,” said Colin Hussey, Business Manager for Education at Serif. “Teachers find the Design Suite programs easy to learn which translates to schools and programs utilizing the software in their classes more often and getting a better value for their purchase. From basic art lessons for elementary students to animation to reinforce chemistry compounds for older students, the Serif Design Suite is easily integrated into nearly any area of the curriculum.”
Serif is also offering a “Back-to-School” discount of 20% off all products purchased through its partner, The Douglas Stewart Company, one of the largest distributors and marketers of computer products, consumer electronics and school supplies exclusively serving the education market. This discount applies to both individual products and site licenses. The sale ends September 30, 2009.
Attendees of the NECC show can visit Serif’s booth #2960 to discuss the grant program and to see on-going product demonstrations. Serif also will host free, daily presentations in its booth, at 11:30 a.m., titled, “Animate Your Students: Getting Started Adding Computer Graphics and Animation to Lessons,” and led by Robb Ponton, board member of the Virginia Society for Technology in Education (VSTE) and instructional technology resource teacher for the Williamsburg-James City County (Va.) Public Schools.
The Design Suite is now available through educational resellers. For more information, visit http://www.serif.com/education.
For more information about the 21st Century Community Learning Centers Grant program, contact Educational Resources at 1-800-624-2926 or http://www.edresources.com.
PR Inquiries
Theresa Freeman
Matter Communications
(617) 650-3062 (onsite at NECC)
(401) 351-9509 (office post-NECC)
Serif (at) matternow.com
About Serif
Serif develops and publishes the award-winning software range which includes PagePlus™, PhotoPlus™, DrawPlus™, WebPlus™, AlbumPlus™, MoviePlus™, PanoramaPlus™ and Digital Scrapbook Artist™. Founded in 1987 with the aim to develop better value alternatives to high-end design and publishing packages, Serif has been repeatedly praised for its powerful yet easy-to-use software which enables businesses, educational establishments, and ordinary PC users to achieve professional-quality results – whatever their level of experience. With over 6 million customers worldwide and over 200 independent awards and accolades from respected industry publications, Serif has over 200 employees at its head office, development and European sales centre in Nottingham, UK and its North American sales operation in New Hampshire, US.