PORTLAND – Students returning to high schools in rural northern Maine this fall will have new course offerings to select from due to the Verizon Foundation.

The foundation, the philanthropic arm of Verizon, has awarded a grant to support new, distance learning-based instruction in conversational Spanish in three Aroostook County high schools.

The Lewiston Regional Technical Center and the Central Aroostook Council on Education will each receive a $10,000 grant. The recipients wee chosen from among applicants responding to a Verizon request for proposals that sought funding for projects demonstrating school district collaboration via the use of interactive video distance learning technology to enhance course offerings available in Maine’s education system.

The Spanish course will be made available to students attending Central Aroostook High School (in Mars Hill), Fort Fairfield High School and Wisdom High School (in St. Agatha) by an instructor located more than 250 miles to the southwest in Lewiston.

Representatives of the grant recipient organizations and Verizon will be honored at a reception this fall featuring Gov. John Baldacci and Education Commissioner Susan Gendron.