News

District 97 Schools Earn Top Awards in Global Virtual Classroom Contest

May 3, 2012

Students from Percy Julian Middle School and Mann Elementary School recently competed in the Global Virtual Classroom Contest, which is a free online collaborative learning project that fosters creativity, cross cultural understanding and helping others; provides children with the opportunity to use research, writing and communication skills; and teaches IT and Web site design skills to students from around the world. The student teams who participated had their entries judged on a number of criteria, including content, presentation, collaboration and a helping focus. The helping focus encourages students to demonstrate achievement of a helpful objective such as personal, social and/or environmental responsibility, or support for a worthy cause.

The district's student teams received six awards this year, including:

Primary School Team Winners

• Julian Middle School’s seventh graders won second prize for the site Bullying 101. The class partnered on the project with students from Tennessee and Taiwan. The teacher leader for the team was Adrienne Court.

• Mann Elementary School’s fourth graders won third prize for the site Unity in Diversity. The class partnered on the project with students from India and Kenya. The teacher leader for the team was Colin Reynolds.

• Mann Elementary School’s fourth graders also won special merit awards for the sites The Poverty Stories and Endangered & Extinct Animals Around the World. The class that worked on The Poverty Stories site won an award for exceptional helping focus, partnered on the project with students from Florida and Cote d'Ivory, and was led by teacher Beth Diviacchi. The class that worked on the Endangered & Extinct Animals Around the World site won an award for exceptional creativity, partnered on the project with students from Indonesia and India, and was led by teacher Jim Hayward.

• Mann Elementary School’s fifth graders won a special merit award for exceptional multimedia and academic merit for the site Environmental Exploration. The class partnered on the project with students from Taiwan and Thailand. The teacher leader for the team was Cristen Vincent.

Secondary School Team Winners

• Julian Middle School’s eighth graders won a special merit award for exceptional academic merit for the site Education Across the Globe. The class partnered on the project with students from Thailand. The teacher leader for the team was Adrienne Court.

Since 2005, District 97 has won eight grand prize awards, five second place awards, three third place awards and 13 special merit awards in the competition.