News and Events
Midco's $175K Donation Roughly Doubles Size of MTI Telecommunication Program
- Date: 12/13/16
- Category: Midco in the News
December 12, 2016 – Mitchell, SD: With one donation, Midco has roughly doubled the size of Mitchell Technical Institute's telecommunications program.
"It is like Christmas. It's a fun day," said Julie Brookbank, director of communications for MTI. "It's kind of like being able to go into the warehouse and just grab everything you want."
Midco, a Sioux Falls-based telecommunications provider, loaded about $175,000 worth of equipment into a semi truck and delivered it to the school Monday morning.
Michael Benjamin, the telecommunications department head at MTI, said the donation will help the 17-student program create backups to its systems as well as expand its infrastructure.
Students unloaded the equipment and stacked boxes higher and higher inside the telecom classroom. Without a set inventory list at the time, Benjamin said the equipment could double the size of the department's lab, and he wasn't sure where everything was going to fit.
"It will all find a home, I guarantee you that," Benjamin said.
... The list of equipment is long and varied, according to Midco Chief Technology Officer Jon Pederson, who was at MTI during the delivery, and includes conduits, closures, switches and racks, among other items.
Pederson said Midco donates equipment when it has surplus inventory. The company may replace its current equipment with a different model or a small upgrade, for example, then donate the older items to MTI and other South Dakota technical institutes, although MTI is a particularly good fit for donations.
"Mitchell Tech, however, has a program that most closely matches our field technology, so it's a really good fit," Pederson said. "It's great whenever we can provide excess inventory to help with that kind of training because it benefits the students, the community, and then it comes back to us eventually, too."
Read the rest of the article at MitchellRepublic.com.
