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Greater Boston's Inner-City Youth Celebrate Newly Aquired
Technology Skills Critical For Today's Digital Age
WiredWoods' Campers Showcase Collaborative
Web Creations Produced While Enjoying Summer Camp
DUXBURY, Mass., August 17, 2001 Temperatures rose to nearly
100 degrees while forty proud and enthusiastic campers comprised
of Greater Boston's underserved youth presented creative,
collaborative Web-sites to friends, staff and special guests
attending an end-of-summer WiredWoods celebration at Crossroads
for Kids in Duxbury, Mass. WiredWoods is a non-profit startup
featuring an innovative project-based computer curriculum
that is integrated into traditional overnight summer camp
activities. Its first site, Crossroads for Kids Camp, has
been serving at-risk youth for 65 years. WiredWoods is based
on the premise that less privileged children can enjoy learning
about technology and computers by designing and producing
their own creations in the context of a carefree setting such
as overnight camp.
"I knew in my heart that these kids
would embrace technology if it were presented in a fun, un-intimidating
environment," said Paul Deninger, the program's founder
and Chairman and CEO of Broadview Holdings, a leading investment
banking firm focused on the technology industry. "The
Web-sites created by these kids and presented today were very
complex, including animation, intricate graphics and storytelling.
They used this opportunity to truly express themselves. Most
campers even learned the fundamentals of HTML, a computer
language for building Web-sites that many adults have trouble
understanding."
The festivities, which took place in a log building at Crossroads
for Kids overnight camp on August 9, included presentations
of group Web-projects, created with digital cameras, software
and campers' unlimited imagination. Deninger joined WiredWoods
campers and teachers to celebrate a successful summer of discovery
and learning along with a shared passion for the power of
technology. In addition, campers welcomed two guest speakers
Daphne Griffin, director of technology programs for the Boys
and Girls Clubs of Boston, and Gerald Dottin, Jr., of IBM/Lotus's
Notes Systems Administration. Griffin encouraged campers to
visit the many clubs in the Greater Boston area to continue
using the new skills they developed at WiredWoods. Dottin,
once an at-risk youth himself, offered campers a real-life
example of how technology opens new doors and can help them
achieve success - personally and professionally.
"The mind of a child can produce the
most exciting, imaginative creations; they never cease to
amaze and excite me. Today, these kids left me awestruck with
their positive, team-work mentality and the diverse talents
they used to build very complicated Web- sites that captured
their individual camping experiences," said Daphne Griffin.
"We are fortunate that Boston is a very computer resource-rich
community, and we are all hopeful that these kids will be
more apt to visit ours and other facilities located throughout
the Boston area, now that they've learned first hand how exciting
technology is and how rewarding it is to use computers to
create instead of just surfing the Web."
WiredWoods is a non-profit startup dedicated
to engaging low-income middle school aged children to get
hooked on technology, empowering them to succeed in the digital
age. Its goal is to marry the utility of computers with the
joy of summer camp to make a strong, long-lasting impact on
the lives of these children. As part of a traditional, overnight
summer camp, WiredWoods gives many underserved children the
opportunity to be successful with computers - something they
may never before have considered possible.
To view the campers' Web-sites and learn
more about the program and its unique curriculum, visit, www.wiredwoods.org.
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