Bringing Education Back to the Rural Community

By Billy Hudson, Ph.D.

For many years I have been aware that my academic success, beginning with a rocky start from a rural community in Arkansas, is due in large part to five key mentors who provided me with opportunities and guidance to acquire an education that underpins my scientific career.

In 2005, I began a study of the one-room schools that were in Grapevine, Arkansas from the late 1800s up to 1930 when they were consolidated into one school. In 1985, the Grapevine school further consolidated with the Sheridan School District, at which time the community began to lose its identity. In May 2006, the community commemorated the heritage of one-room schools with a beautiful marble monument.

In October 2005, I decided to ride the school bus route that I had ridden as a child along Garden Seed Road so that I could explore how I might discover something substantive to give back to the community. The exhausting trip to school lasted all of 1.5 hours, with another 1.5 hours for the way back. Having the one-room school house concept in my mind, I realized on the return trip that the school bus was a one-room school on wheels, with students of various ages confined to a single room – but, with nothing to do. It was idle time. There was no teacher. I thought that this idle time could be transformed into extended learning time with laptop computers and internet access, analogous to modern day travel in airplanes. The time on the bus seemed to be a unique opportunity for an educational intervention, a time where no one had staked a claim for anything.

As I began researching the opportunities to bring Internet access to remote areas, I discovered (on the Internet, of course), a company called Internet In Motion that was able to provide service to recreational vehicles. In consultation with my sister, Ann Kincl, an expert in gifted education, my brother, Johnny Hudson, Managing Partner at Hudson, Cisne & Co. LLP., and my wife, Julie, a physician at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, we launched the Aspirnaut Initiative together with the Sheridan School District and placed notebook computers (provided by Vanderbilt University) and activated internet access on the bus for high ability students. We also organized video iPods for the other riders. In April 2007, the first students went online on the bus.

The intent of the Hudson family is to give back to society because many friends and mentors have paved the way for us to get an education, the foundation of our careers. We understand the plight of rural youth, having walked a mile in their shoes. We understand the need for math and science proficiency as a foundation for the high tech workforce of the 21st Century. We are hopeful that Aspirnaut will elevate achievement of all students, and in particular those of high ability who are often underserved in both rural and urban schools.

For a profile on Billy Hudson and his career, see the Vanderbilt Reporter.

Drs. Julie and Billy Hudson on a rural bus route in Grapevine, AR.