BALTIMORE - Every middle school student at Living Classrooms Foundation's Crossroads School is receiving a Google Chromebook thanks to contributions from Constellation, Medifast, and Centric Business Systems.

The local Baltimore businesses combined to provide enough funding for the Harbor East charter school to purchase laptops for each of its 163 6th through 8th grade students.

The contribution will help the school ensure that every student has full and equitable access to the online learning resources that are available through Crossroads' digital learning library. Otherwise, some students would continue to fill out paper packets while those with computers at home would be able to participate in live video classes with their teachers.

In addition to the 163 middle school students, 48 2nd through 5th grade students enrolled in Living Classrooms' BUGS (Baltimore Urban Gardening with Students) after school program also received a Chromebook so they could continue working through their reading, math, gardening, STEM, and creative arts curriculum with their educators.

'In a time when it is critical that we pivot our educational model to ensure students remain engaged in learning while schools are closed, we are very grateful for the generous donations that helped facilitate the purchase of this much needed technology so that all of our students have equitable access to important educational resources created by our wonderful faculty,' said James Piper Bond, President and CEO, Living Classrooms Foundation.

The joint donation was an effort coordinated between three members of Living Classrooms' Board of Trustees: Jorge Acevedo, SVP, Generation Innovation & Strategy, Constellation; Daniel Chard, CEO, Medifast and Rick Bastinelli, CEO, Centric Business Systems.

Typically, students would be expected to return take-home computers at the end of the school year so they can be cleaned up and updated during the summer break. However, this year, students will be able to keep their Chromebooks through the summer during which time faculty will be providing digital content for summer learning with the goal of preventing learning loss.

'In this environment, we're all adapting the way in which we work, and that challenge extends to our educators and their efforts to keep students on track and engaged,' said Jim McHugh, Constellation CEO. 'We could not be more pleased to play a part in helping the amazing faculty and students at Crossroads facilitate an effective virtual classroom and experience as little disruption as possible in their learning.'

Next-door neighbors since 2016, Constellation and Crossroads have a longstanding relationship that includes a robust mentoring program in which, every year, more than 70 Constellation employees serve as mentors for Crossroads students. This unique Crossroads experience provides an avenue for students to learn about potential career paths and build relationships that will help them be successful in school and career.

About Constellation

Constellation is a leading competitive retail supplier of power, natural gas and energy products and services for homes and businesses across the continental United States. Constellation's family of retail businesses serves approximately 2 million residential, public sector and business customers, including three-fourths of the Fortune 100. Baltimore-based Constellation is a subsidiary of Exelon Corporation (Nasdaq: EXC), the nation's leading competitive energy provider, with 2019 revenues of approximately $34 billion, and more than 31,000 megawatts of owned capacity comprising one of the nation's cleanest and lowest-cost power generation fleets.

About Living Classrooms Foundation Crossroads School

The Crossroads School is a public, tuition-free, charter middle school operated by Living Classrooms Foundation on its East Harbor Campus through a contract with the Baltimore City Public School System. The school, which opened its doors in September 2002, draws students from throughout Baltimore City and currently serves 162 students in 6th-8th grades. The Crossroads School prides itself on being a 'school of choice' whereby students, families, and teachers choose to be a part of the Crossroads educational community. The curriculum focuses on the fundamentals of reading, writing, and math with a hands-on, interdisciplinary approach. Technology, cooperative learning, critical thinking, and real-world application of knowledge are also considered to be fundamental to the core curriculum.

Contact:

Dave Snyder

Tel: 410.470.9700

Email: david.snyder@constellation.com

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