PEABODY — Bishop Fenwick High School’s French 3 class, taught by Diane Eromin, won a brand-new ActivPanel interactive display from the technology company Promethean.

The panel was won through a contest, where classrooms across the country could share their story to Promethean about how their class needs one of these boards. Eromin said she had always used a Promethean board and when her panel of 14 years died, it was hard to use any other mediums.

“I’ve used Promethean for years,” Eromin said. “I didn’t want to use a projector or a whiteboard because once you go Promethean you can never go back.”

Eromin’s class was part of 11 winners announced by Promethean on Jan 25. Eromin said she and her class made a video in September 2021 detailing how they depend on the technology and how they use it for their classwork.

She said her students took the contest seriously and did most of the production of the film — including one student who was in charge of editing the video and uploading it.

“The video is about three-to-four minutes long and we put something together to tell our story,” said Eromin. “At the end, my students all said, ‘nous adorons Promethean,’ meaning ‘we love Promethean’ in French.”

Since the class received the board, it has been used in almost every single class. Eromin said students were eager to use the new piece of technology and said it is an asset when it comes to teaching.

“We all went crazy when we won,” she said. “Everyone was so excited when it arrived and everyone started to use it. You can write on it, point to images on it and do all sorts of things for class.”

Winning the contest was not only a win for Eromin’s students, but also the school’s wallet.  

ActivPanels cost around $6,800 but by winning, she and her class received it for free.  

Eromin also took the time to congratulate the 10 other classrooms that won an ActivPanel, as for many of them, this is their first experience using this kind of technology.

“For most people who won, this is their first time using it,” Eromin said. “I had been using it for quite some time.”