ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, July 10, 1996 TAG: 9607100033
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: DUBLIN
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
The board of the Southwest Virginia Governor's School is hoping for better luck this year in seeking a $2 million federal grant to provide high-speed computer access to the school systems where it gets its students.
A similar application last year was unsuccessful. But Governor's School Director Margaret "Pat" Duncan told its governing board Tuesday that work already done on computer service to schools might help this year, because it will show that the school has gone ahead and worked on the project.
The Governor's School has equipment obtained through a National Aeronautics and Space Administration program which it has connected to some schools in Pulaski, Giles and Wythe counties. Students also commute to the Governor's School for a half-day of science and technology classes from Bland, Carroll, Floyd and Smyth counties.
The NASA software allows up to 250 computer connections per school. "What I would like to see happen here with this grant is to have an electronic community," Duncan said, providing computer servers for schools not already connected to the Governor's School.
"We're in the dark ages right now as far as this whole Internet," said Pulaski County Superintendent Bill Asbury. "It's hard to believe." But, he said, a lot more is going to be happening in the near future as far as computers and education are concerned.
Duncan reported a successful second annual Science-in-Motion camp, held at the school for a week last month in conjunction with New River Community College. Eighty-eight students in grades 6-8 from Pulaski, Montgomery, Wythe, Roanoke and Bedford counties and Radford studied wildlife ecosystems, physical science, chemistry, math, computers, astronomy and geology.
Debbie Douthat coordinated the project for the community college and Robert Carlson for the school. Duncan said some parents and students had pushed for extending the camp to two weeks next summer.
Ninety-eight students are signed up so far for the 1996-97 Governor's School session, leaving two openings. The board approved a change from the traditional 12-hour trip to Wallops Island for a preschool science camp, opting instead for local ecological studies in the Claytor Lake area and courses such as astronomy using the Dublin Elementary School observatory.
Ron Whitehead from Giles County was re-elected as chairman of the school's governing board. Patricia Sebens from Carroll County is the new vice chairwoman. Smyth County Superintendent Marvin Winters is the superintendent-in-charge.
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