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BEAR CREEK, N.C. – Every Chatham County high school student was given a laptop of their own to use this school year.

It's part of the school system's 1:1 Laptop Initiative funded partially by an $800,000 Golden LEAF grant that helped purchase new laptops for students at Jordan-Matthews High School. The school system had been purchasing laptops over the last few years, so the 2009-2010 school year was the first time about 2,200 laptops were assigned to each student for use in school and at home.

"I liked it because it was easier to access everything," said Hayleigh Polston, a sophomore at Chatham Central High. "If you didn't understand a topic and you were at home, you could just e-mail your teacher and he could help you out."

Polston used an online program to create an interactive poster for a project in her honors biology class. The class also had a Web site set up where students could log on and take quizzes, review lessons and connect to sites that enhance what they're learning.

"With limited budgets, we're actually giving the kids a wider, more immersive educational experience by finding resources that museums and colleges have already put together," said science teacher Enrique Cachafeiro. "It's out there and it's freely available."

Cachafeiro said some of his students were reluctant to use the laptops at first, but they've really embraced it over the course of the school year. Some students find the technology helps with their studies.

"At first I was using pencil and paper to take notes and then I started using my laptop," said sophomore Jamie Spruiell Jr. "It helps keep it organized, and it's really good."

Overall, the school system has more than 4,900 laptops in use across the district because it also provides carts of laptops to students in kindergarten through eighth grades, as well as teachers. The program is not cheap, but administrators said it's worth it.

"We're seeing increased engagement by students," said Mitchell Stensland, the principal at Chatham Central. "Students are more involved in their classes, enjoying class, and can actively participate in the course beyond just the 90 minute period."

Even though students turned in their laptops on Monday, they'll get them back in the fall after they've been reformatted. All schools are also in the process of doubling their bandwidth to handle the increase in usage throughout the system.