For immediate release
May 25, 2001

Two schools win national website awards

        Pinecrest Memorial Elementary School and Deseronto Public School are among the top fourteen schools in SchoolNet's GrassRoots Communities @ ca, a national competition celebrating unique communities and showcasing excellence in community collaboration and website design. For the contest, students at each school worked with their teachers and community to create a website about the community where they live.
        Pinecrest Memorial Elementary School in Bloomfield won $1,500 for placing second in the category of "The Way We Live". Their website titled Bloomfield - Yesterday and Today was researched, designed and created by a team of six Grade 7 and 8 students: Carolyn Gummo, Brad Jessup, Corey Kellar, Ned Krause, Eric Kellar, and Amelia Rutgers. The students worked under the guidance of their teachers Carole Binch and Al Neill to create a website about Bloomfield that includes a history of the town, virtual tours of Main Street and historic architecture, links to festivals, a look at the area's agriculture, and today's tourism opportunities in the quaint town. Bloomfield - Yesterday and Today can be found at www.hpedsb.on.ca/pine/bloomfield.
        Twenty-eight Grade 7 students at Deseronto Public School collaborated on their third place entry in the category of "Our Living Past". The award comes with a prize of $1,000. Students, lead by teachers Judith Murphy and Kent Manning, researched and created their site, titled History of Deseronto. It features historical photographs from around town, the town's industrial and business history, stories on major historical events and figures, as well as interviews with current residents as they recall the Deseronto of their youth. To visit the History of Deseronto website, go to www.hpedsb.on.ca/deser/history.
        The websites were evaluated by competing schools and a national panel of teachers and education experts on criteria such as design, technical sophistication, interactivity, value to others, community involvement and creativity. Winning sites include photographs, animated characters, amps, multimedia components and primary research based on interviews with members of the community.
        GrassRoots Communities @ ca is part of Canada's SchoolNet. SchoolNet promotes the effective use of information and communications technologies in learning in partnership with the provincial and territorial governments, the education community and the private sector. With the help of provincial, territorial, and corporate partners, the SchoolNet GrassRoots Program makes the connection between the curriculum and information communications technologies, capitalizing on technology as a vehicle for, and a driver of learning.
 

For information contact:

Carole Binch, teacher, Pinecrest Elementary School, 393-3262
Al Neill, computer and science resource teacher, aneill@hpedsb.on.ca

Judith Murphy, teacher, Deseronto Public School, 396-2448
Kent Manning, computer and science resource teacher, kmanning@hpedsb.on.ca