THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, May 24, 1996 TAG: 9605230162
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Education
SOURCE: BY REBECCA A. MYERS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 53 lines
With computers, printers and power cords in tow, about 500 middle and high school students showed up at Old Dominion University on a recent Saturday morning.
They arrived from as far away as Gloucester and the Eastern Shore to show off their computer skills and compete with one another in the 11th Annual Great Computer Challenge.
``It's really an awesome experience to see these kids,'' says Evaline Hargrove, a Woodrow Wilson High teacher who took three teams to the competition with the help of Gail Silvasi, Wilson's international magnet school coordinator.
``I mean, you see them in the morning dragging their computers in and just going to town for three hours with just the machines and each other,'' says Hargrove, who teaches American history.
More than 160 teams, each comprising from two to five students, competed in five main categories: graphic arts, music composition, desktop publishing, the Internet challenge and computer programming.
``It's a wonderful competition for kids to demonstrate teamwork,'' says Hargrove, who led a two-student Internet team and a graphic arts team, also with two members. Silvasi sponsored a desktop publishing group made up of four freshmen.
By the end of the day, Portsmouth students walked away with four awards: Woodrow Wilson High placed first in the Internet challenge and second in the graphic arts competition; I.C. Norcom High received an honorable mention in graphic arts; and Cradock Middle School placed first in the music composition.
Senior Ross Creecy and freshman Jeff Pennington made up the winning Internet challenge team, which was charged with the task of creating a topical directory on reference materials.
``There was one team who did their topical directory on scholarship money and where it's available,'' Creecy says, ``and I figured they would get first place for sure because that's something that's relevant. . . . So when they called us for first, I was quite surprised.''
Senior Lila Huffman and sophomore Chris Carper represented Wilson's graphic arts team, which placed second overall.
``We paired Lila with a younger student, who learned from her so he can come back next year,'' Hargrove says.
Though Wilson's desktop publishing team did not place, members J.R. Williams, Demetri Benson, Michael Brown and Jacinta Hines - all freshmen - have three more years to give it another try.
``This was their first time, so they were a little nervous, especially when we lost the power plug for their computer and their printer program went down,'' Hargrove says.
``But, see, things like that happen. That's part of what the kids have to deal with.'' by CNB