On Friday, Oct. 11 at the homecoming pep assembly, Niles North was presented with a check for $25,000 from Best Buy through Intel.

Every year, Intel, one of the biggest technology corporations in the world, issues a nationwide test to Best Buy stores. The test is called the Score with Intel Core Challenge, and is a competition that educates Best Buy employees about Intel products so that they can better explain them to customers. In 2012, the Best Buy store in Skokie at the Village Crossing Shopping Center came in second place, winning a $4,000 grant, which was given to Niles West. However, the store came in first place in the nation this year, and the cash prize amounted to a whopping $25,000.

Intel initially rewarded the Skokie Best Buy with the money, but the store’s employees voted to award it in full to Niles North.

When Best Buy contacted principal Ryan McTague with this information, he was shocked. “When they said 25, I thought they meant $2500!” he said. “$25,000 is incredible, and I could not be more grateful.”

All the money will be going towards benefiting Niles North and its students. A portion of the grant will go towards North’s parent organizations, such as the booster club, Fine Arts Parents and Patrons and the District 219 Foundation for Excellence. The rest will be put into the student activities account to be used for funding trips, special events and the all-around importance of enhancing the students’ experiences here at North.

Since all the money was going towards the students, McTague felt it necessary to bring the representatives from Best Buy and Intel to the assembly to show them what our students are like. Throughout the assembly, they saw how much energy there was and expressed to McTague how wonderful a place North is and how lucky we are to have such a great group of kids here. The check was presented to us by John Simmons, General Manager of the Skokie Best Buy, Sean Hoover, Geek Squad Manager at the store and Chris Cheffer, Intel Sales Manager.

“It felt really good knowing that Best Buy and Intel are happy about where the money is going,” McTague said. “We thank Best Buy for selecting Niles North and value their partnership with our school.”