Utqiaġvik, Alaska – Arctic Slope Telephone Association Cooperative (ASTAC) has donated $15,000 to the North Slope Borough School District’s Battle of the Books program. This is ASTAC’s sixth year sponsoring the region’s reading competition and during that time the number of participants has grown by 40 percent. About 490 students took part in the program last year. Schools in all eight North Slope villages will compete against each other during the upcoming academic year and ASTAC’s donation will cover the cost of books and supplies for every school in the district.

“We appreciate ASTAC’s continued strong support of the district’s Battle of the Books program. It is amazing to see so many students participating in such a fun and rewarding program. Continuity builds a program,” said Erin Hollingsworth, NSBSD Instructional Specialist.

Battle of the Books is a reading incentive program for students in grades three through 12. Goals of the nationwide program include encouraging and recognizing students who enjoy reading; broadening reading interests; increasing reading comprehension and promoting academic excellence.

ASTAC provides Broadband Ethernet and Internet, 4G wireless as well as local and long-distance services across the North Slope. Additionally, ASTAC offers a Nomadic WAN and Internet service using the North Slope’s only private LTE network covering the oil fields. For more information, visit www.astac.net.

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