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VIDEO REPORT: Nissan Invests $500,000 in Canton Schools, Future Workforce

Nissan Invests $500,000 in Canton Schools, Future Workforce

CANTON, Mississippi – Nissan is donating $500,000 to public elementary schools in Canton, Miss. The funding is intended to help children who are not keeping pace with their curriculum.

"If we can catch those students before they move to the next grade level and bring them up to speed, then their chances of success increases tremendously," said Lakesha Doyle, a third-grade teacher at Canton Elementary school.

This grant from Nissan will specifically go toward elementary school students who are behind in their classes. Thanks to this money, two new academic interventionists will give targeted support to these students.

"That's exactly what our children need. They need that small group setting, the one-on-one that sometimes will be provided to them to catch them up and even accelerate them and get them ahead," said Dwight J. Luckett Sr., superintendent of Canton Public Schools.

Nissan opened a plant in Canton 10 years ago in 2003. Since then, the company has donated nearly $1.2 million to the school district.

"Helping Canton schools succeed is especially important to us because first the district serves our local community; and, many of the students we hope are going to be amongst our future employees," said Dan Bednarzyk, vice president, Nissan Canton Manufacturing.

Currently there are about 5,000 people working at Nissan's Canton plant. The annual payroll there adds up to more than $200 million. And the company plans to keep growing.

Canton workers will soon start building the new Nissan Sentra sedan. And assembly of Nissan's next-generation Murano will move from Japan to Canton in 2014.

 

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Issued by Nissan