FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Sally Bowman Alden, Executive Director
(408) 720-8838

COMPUTER LEARNING FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES WINNERS
OF OUR TOWN MERIT COMPETITION

Students Work With Community on Town Web Site

PALO ALTO, Calif., (August 15, 1997) - - The Computer Learning Foundation announced today the winners of the first year of the Our Town Merit Competition. In Our Town, the Foundation's newest initiative, students work with others in their community to develop a Web site for their town. The Foundation provides access to the town sites on its Web site (http://www.computerlearning.org).

The competition's grand prize winners will receive computers and software, second prize winners will receive software, and third prize winners will receive honorable mention certificates. The judging criteria for the competition included: creativity, presentation, organization, scope of information presented, quality of content, value to others, number of students involved in the development of Web pages, and number and scope of contributors to the Web site's development and content.

"We congratulate all the entrants this year for their efforts, as we believe they are all winners, whether they will be receiving prizes or not," said the Computer Learning Foundation's Executive Director, Sally Bowman Alden. "All Our Town participants experienced the joy of working together as a community while creating a Web site that showcases their town as well as the skills of the students."

The competition's winners took many different approaches to creating their town sites, as the sites reflect the uniqueness of each town. The two grand prize winning sites had at least one thing in common: Both excelled in all of the criteria. The grand prize winners are Mill Valley, California, led by Susan Johnson of Edna Maguire Elementary School, and Hampton Bays, New York, led by Karin Levy of Hampton Bays Elementary School. Susan Johnson will receive an Apple Macintosh computer with an assortment of Microsoft software and her school will receive two Macintosh computers and software. Karin Levy will receive an IBM PC 300 Desktop Series computer with an assortment of Microsoft software and her school will also receive two IBM computers and software.

The site for Mill Valley reflects the efforts of 75 third graders, four teachers (including Susan Johnson) and numerous parents and community members. The students produced all of the text and artwork on the site. To do so, the students learned basic keyboarding skills to type in their text. For the artwork, they learned how to scan pictures and import them into documents. They also experi-enced the process of morphing pictures to demonstrate changes over time. Along with these skills, the students learned about their town and developed a bond with their community.

As for the content of the site, each of the teachers had their class research a different aspect of the town. One class went on a walking tour of the downtown area and asked questions at City Hall, Public Works, the Fire Department and a host of local businesses. Another class generated questions about the town and then researched the answers at the library and by interviewing local experts. The third class created a timeline of the town's history, while the fourth class looked at how some of the town's local landmarks had changed over time.

In Hampton Bays, New York, around 200 fourth and fifth grade students created the town's Web site with an abundance of help from their teachers, local business people and community members. Our Town leader Karin Levy was instrumental in teaching the students to create Web pages for the site. Her efforts not only helped to win the grand prize, they also earned her a new position as a technology specialist for another school district.

The Hampton Bays' site contains a varied collection of information on local businesses and organizations, community members' memories of the town, the town's present and future, and the area's environment. One section on the environment contains student research on the need to protect the area's sand dunes and offers ideas on how to help. As for working with the community, the students who called local businesses to collect information were impressed by the friendliness and cooperation they found. The site earned a lot of attention in the community, including an article in the local newspaper with a picture of the student developers.

The competition's four second prize winners also excelled at putting together sites that reflect their town's individuality. The second prize winning sites are: Hawthorne, Florida; Midland, Michigan; Brooksville, Florida; and Rockford, Michigan. These sites' Our Town leaders and their schools will receive software prizes.

Coral Antony served as the leader for Hawthorne, Florida, where students at Shell Elementary School created the winning site. Mrs. Antony, the school's media specialist, worked with students from second to fifth grade. The site contains general information about the town, as well as pictures and information on its history, churches, schools and activities. It also has a section on one of the areas most famous residents: Pulitzer Prize winning author Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings.

In Midland, Michigan, Stephanie Nelson of Midland High School shared the leadership role with fellow teacher Patricia Tuma. They coordinated the efforts of their school's students with those of students from one intermediate school and two elementary schools to create their winning site. The site has links to community and business sites, short stories and opinions on the town from retirees, and information from school projects. The school projects include student home pages, which feature everything from a student's future plans to his or her philosophy of life.

At Moton Elementary School in Brooksville, Florida, Our Town leader Carla Schutte also coordinated the efforts of many people to create their winning site. Fourth and fifth graders worked with community members to collect information on their town and their county's schools and libraries. Their site includes Web pages on the town's history and geography, the Humane Society, the Chamber of Commerce, the Heritage Museum, the Fire Department, photographs of historic homes and downtown, and more. The Moton School's Web pages even features pictures from the school's zoo.

Our Town leader Maggie Thelen of Rockford, Michigan, guided students at Sheridan Trail Middle School to create their winning site. The team of sixth graders interviewed the town's Mayor and the Superintendent of Schools, and they worked with the Chamber of Commerce to acquire additional information. The site contains statistics on the town and information on its businesses, weather, geography, history and schools. The students also worked with the Food Editor of The Rockford Squire newspaper to post recipes with a local flavor on their site.

Like the Our Town competition's other winners, the five third place winners created sites that convey the special bond between the students and their towns. The third place winners are: Mays Landing, New Jersey, led by Carla Hockenbury of William Davies Middle School; Mancos, Colorado, led by Will Jones of Mancos Schools; Valparaiso, Indiana, led by Dr. Jan Koenig of Benjamin Franklin Middle School; Cary, Illinois, led by Mary Anne Thompson of Saints Peter and Paul School; and Roselle Park, New Jersey led by Janet Mae Zahumeny of Roselle Park High School. They will all receive honorable mention certificates.

Every Our Town leader, school and community that entered the contest helped to share a taste of their town with everyone who visits their Web site. For more information on Our Town and the Computer Learning Foundation, visit the Foundation's Web site (http://www.computerlearning.org) or request a copy of Computer Learning, the Foundation's free annual publication, by writing to: Computer Learning Foundation, Dept. OTW97, P.O. Box 60007, Palo Alto, California, 94306-0007.

The Computer Learning Foundation, based in Palo Alto, California, is an international nonprofit educational foundation dedicated to bringing businesses, schools and communities together to improve the quality of education and preparation of youth for the workplace through the use of technology. Founded in 1987, the Foundation serves as a clearinghouse of information for parents and educators on using technology effectively with children. In addition, the Computer Learning Foundation hosts Computer Learning Month each October, a major national grass roots educational effort, and motivates and recognizes innovative uses of technology through annual competitions for children, educators, community groups and schools. The Computer Learning Foundation is funded by corporate and individual donations and is endorsed by and collaborates with 56 U.S. State Departments of Education and Canadian Ministries of Education and 26 national non-profit organizations.

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