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RANI LONG
After nearly 11 years of helping Cable in the Classroom grow, Megan Stevens Hookey is resigning her position as managing director of the nonprofit.
Hookey joined the organization in 1990 as associate director and has held her current position since 1996. She will continue in her role until the end of this year.
During her tenure, CIC has grown steadily, with almost all cable operators and 41 programmers participating in the $2 million-per-week industry service effort. CIC provides more than 540 hours of free programming each month to more than 81,000 schools across the country.
Hookey has been honored with several awards citing her dedication of education through television. She speaks warmly of Cable in the Classroom and both her personal and collective achievements within the company.
"I'm enormously proud of the work the cable industry has done," she says, "particularly local cable systems, in reaching out to schools and community leaders, letting them see all the good the cable industry has been able to do for schools. I think it's been particularly exciting to see the growth of Cable in the Classroom and how it's evolved from commercial-free videos to a combination of both the video and a huge array of online resource materials."
Moving forward, the organization has the challenge of the continued effort to provide a free cable modem connection in schools, due to the explosive growth and use of the Internet in schools.
Cable in the Classroom is not funded for a national paid advertising campaign, however they do have the ability to create PSAs. Their member cable systems and programmers are sometimes asked to donate unsold avails to help CIC in its coordinated promotional campaign.
"It's been terrific," says Hookey, "working with so many people within our industry who have really shared this passion about helping kids succeed in life. Cable can play a role, and that's a very gratifying experience.
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