Lately we've had some incredibly tough decisions to make at Mouse HQ. We received a lot of amazing submissions for the Mouse Squad of the Year award and everyone did a really incredible job. Its wonderful to hear that there are so many awesome Mouse Squads supporting the technology of schools across the country.

The winner of Mouse Squad of the Year 2011 is...

PS 256Q

About PS 256Q:
Forming like Voltron, PS 256 is actually made of 3 smaller squads put together (Harbor Patrol, The R.O.C.K. and Gateway Academy), but with their powers combined they form the ultimate squad. Once a year these squads get together to do a special team-building activity, but otherwise function independently. This is an organizational tour de force by Coordinator Mary Bozzone, who makes this District 75 school a shining star.

• This is only PS 256 Q’s second year in Mouse Squad
• Student leadership rules here; 9th grader Khaleel helps run Gateway Mouse Squad. Khaleel graduated from “the ROCK” Mouse Squad last year and now is in charge of teaching and managing the older squad.
• Because of their involvement in their school community, members of Gateway Mouse Squad were asked to do tech support for the District 75 debate on June 1st, 2011. District 75 schools, which included PS 256, serves New York City public school students with special needs.

Not only does this squad tackle tech issues around their school but they also submitted an incredible DIY project that won Most Potential for Social Impact at Emoti-Con this year! This project helps kids with special needs learn to become the incredible technicians in Squad 256. This scaffolded and differentiated learning tool helps students on the autism spectrum learn tech support tasks. Students from these squads shared their project at an event for the whole district and 3 other schools were so impressed they requested copies of this project and to use with their students.

Check out this video showing all 3 amazing squads:

Congratulations again PS 256Q! Thank you for all the hard work. You win a plaque for your school, a pizza party for your squad, Mouse branded mouse pads for your entire lab, Mouse Tee shirts and MORE!

And now...introducing the winner for Best New Mouse Squad:

Hudson High School of Learning Technologies

Following in the footsteps of last years' new category, we are proud to announce Hudson High School of Learning Technologies is our Best New Mouse Squad. Though they have only had a Mouse Squad for less than a year this school has one of the most exemplary squads around. A new school, Hudson takes technology to the next level and has been an active participant, hosting Mouse training events and providing tech support. They are extremely active in support their school, which has opted not to use physical textbooks books in their classes and instead uses laptops and digital books. All those computers need a lot of maintenance, but Hudson's R.O.C. Mouse Squad rises to the challenge.

This video shows one example of how technology is supported by the Mouse Squad at Hudson High School of Learning Technologies. As you can see, Mouse Squad helps make Hudson into the powerhouse it is.

Congratulations to Hudson High School of Learning Technologies on being our Best New Mouse Squad! A big thank you to all the other amazing squads that applied for Mouse Squad of the Year, keep up the good work. Remember, there's always next year...