ThinkQuest Honors Web Savvy New York City Schoolchildren At Annual Awards Event

NEW YORK, June 5 /PRNewswire/ -- ThinkQuest New York City, a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing Internet technology to local schoolchildren, announced the winners of its annual Internet Challenge at its Team Awards and Recognition Event at the McGraw Hill Building on June 3rd. More than 1,000 New York City schoolchildren and educators from over 50 city schools participated in this year's competition, creating educational websites in categories including arts and literature, math and science, social sciences, interdisciplinary, and sports and health.

Andy Senor, Darryl Ordell and Philip Dorian McAdoo, cast members from the Broadway hit Rent presented awards to teams of students in each division earning first-place, second-place, third-place and outstanding website distinctions, in addition to their respective teacher-coaches and schools. Students on teams awarded first-place honors each received a laptop computer, coaches received a $1,000 gift certificate and their school received a $2,000 gift certificate. Students on teams awarded second-place honors each received a digital camera, coaches received a $500 gift certificate and their school received a $1,000 gift certificate. Students on teams awarded third-place honors each received a $100 gift certificate, coaches received a $250 gift certificate and their school received a $500 gift certificate. Student on teams awarded outstanding website distinction received a $100 gift certificate.

"This event marks the completion of a successful inaugural year for ThinkQuest in New York City," said Lisa Ernst, Executive Director of ThinkQuest New York City. "We are thrilled with the enthusiasm for learning that these local schoolchildren and educators have exhibited by participating in the ThinkQuest New York City Internet Challenge. We'd like to thank our generous supporters, especially the AOL/Time Warner Foundation, Mark and Anla Cheng Kingdon Family Foundation, and The Samberg Family Foundation for making this year's event possible."

The ThinkQuest New York City Internet Challenge is based upon the internationally acclaimed ThinkQuest Internet Challenge, which has brought online learning to over 100,000 children in more than 100 countries. ThinkQuest New York City's annual competition invites teams comprised of a maximum of six students in grades 4-12 to work together to create an interactive, well-researched website on an educational topic of interest to them. Under the guidance of teacher-coaches, teams work to gather data, conduct research, and learn about the Internet as an educational medium as they build educationally rich sites. Upon completion, the entries become a permanent part of the ThinkQuest New York City Web Library ( www.tqnyc.org ), and are available to teachers, students, and Internet users across the globe.

About ThinkQuest

ThinkQuest is the largest and fastest-growing Internet-based education program in the world, allowing students and teachers to work in teams to build high-quality educational websites on a variety of subjects. In the past six years, the ThinkQuest Library has grown to over 5,000 content-rich websites that are made freely available as learning tools via the ThinkQuest Library at www.thinkquest.org .

About ThinkQuest New York City

ThinkQuest New York City, inspired by the success of the International ThinkQuest Challenge, brings together learning and technology for students and educators at New York City schools. The organization launched the ThinkQuest New York City Coach training program in 2002. By the end of the 2002-2003 academic year, the regional program has trained over 200 educators, who in turn will bring the ThinkQuest program to schoolchildren throughout New York City's five boroughs. The program is supported in part with a grant from the AOL Time Warner Foundation and the Mark and Anla Cheng Kingdon Foundation. Additional information about ThinkQuest New York City can be found at www.tqnyc.org .

2003 THINKQUEST NEW YORK CITY INTERNET CHALLENGE WINNERS

The website finalists for the 2003 ThinkQuest New York City Internet Challenge can be viewed at http://www.tqnyc.org/finalists2003.php . All entries can be viewed in the ThinkQuest New York City Library at http://www.tqnyc.org/library/index.php .

DIVISION I - 4th through 6th grades

First Place Award
New Rockets for NASA
School: Harry Eichler School
Coach: Mrs. Neme Alperstein
Students: Heman Howard, Manjinder Kandola, Singh Sandeep

Second Place Award (tie)
Poetry for All Ages
School: Harry Eichler School
Coach: Mrs. Neme Alperstein
Students: Kritika Chand, Kimberly David, Emilija Landsbergis, Jessica Lebron, Mariel Mejia, Ashley Newman

Second Place Award (tie)
Aviation During the Vietnam War
School: Harry Eichler School
Coach: Mrs. Neme Alperstein
Students: Eric Chen, Davindra Lall, Andrew Polyak

Third Place Award
Gods and Goddesses of Greek Mythology
School: East Village Community School
Coach: Mr. Bradley Goodman
Students: Josh Ashmall-Liversidge, Star Cotman, Yollyn DelaCruz, Daniel Mota, Arjuna Routte Prieur

DIVISION II - 7th and 8th grades

First Place Award
CON < - > TEXTS: 'Reading' Migrations Through Art
School: Manhattan Academy Of Technology
Coaches: Mrs. Yadeline Dargenson-Lynch, Mr. Christopher S. Walsh
Students: Diana Chen, Jennifer Huang, Jack Lo, Xiu Mei Wu, Yuan Yuan

Second Place Award
Discovering Atlantis
School: Acsenion School
Coach: Ms. Antoinette Di Stasi
Students: Dino Butron, Camela Cruz, Marylle Pacina, Mary Perez, Stephen Silva, Gretchen Ty

Third Place Award Surrounded by the Solar System
School: High School of Telecomm Arts and Tech
Coach: Ms. Talia Nochumson
Students: Sean Hallett, Steven Strong

DIVISION III - 9th through 12th grades

First Place Award
Using The Conflict Resolution Approach to Analyze Literature
School: Murry Bergtraum High School for Business
Coach: Mrs. Bo Wu
Students: Alana Beck, Alexandra Beica, Monica Hernandez, Julia Ho, Rebecca Tisbe, Robin Yee

Second Place Award
New York Landmarks
School: Lower East Side Prep
Coach: Mr. Henry Ruan
Students: Guan Jinyu, Fanrong Kong, Guangye Liu,Yudong Qiu

Third Place Award
Laser Zone
School: Franklin D. Roosevelt High School
Coach: Nadine Bower
Students: Eva Csengeri, Leonid Mernenko, Boris Peck, Mohammad A. Shabbir, Mohammad U. Shabbir, Andrew Vanette

ALL DIVISIONS - OUTSTANDING WEBSITE AWARD WINNERS

Outstanding Website Award
Mythology: The Facts of Fiction
School: Collegiate School
Coaches: Mr. Raymond Chambers, Mrs. Pamela Fitzgerald
Students: Daniel Rattner, Todd, Alex, Harrison, Paul

Outstanding Website Award
NYC4Kids
School: James M. Smith CS 200
Coaches: Mr. Michael Collins, Mrs. Veronica Wilson
Students: Thay Brown, Natalie Carr, Dalifet Hernandez, Terrell Holmes, Jaid Jones, Treneisha Morgan

Outstanding Website Award
Olde England
School: Sarah Anderson
Coaches: Ms. Rena Schklowsky, Dr. Brian Maci
Students: Anais DelSol, Emma Hartman, Diana Tive

Outstanding Website Award
Food Fest: A Cultural Adventure in Food
School: The Dalton School
Coach: Mrs. Roxanne Feldman
Students: Allison Flamberg, Katie Kornman, Parijat Samant, Cynthia Silverman

Outstanding Website Award
The Giver
School: The Dalton School
Coaches: Mr. Ben Lesch, Dr. Martha Edelson
Students: Elly Brinkley, Hannah Ehrenberg, Julia Cherston, Claudia Gelfond, Genevieve Nierman, Sophie Rouhandeh

Outstanding Website Award
Do you see what you think you see
School: Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament
Coaches: Mrs. Carol Chrusz, Miss Antoinette Di Stasi
Students: Erica Coston, Thomas Flores, Allen Fok, Cristina Iacobelli

Outstanding Website Award
Recipes from Home- A Culinary Visit to Guyana
School: Harry Eichler School
Coach: Mrs. Neme Alperstein
Students: Rickie Harripersaud, Brandon Sanichar

Outstanding Website Award
The African American Birthday Calendar
School: The Ralph Bunche School
Coach: Ms. Maureen Hughes
Student: Gatling Toyan, Jamel Gauthier, Roudeline Monestime, Natalie Stone

Outstanding Website Award
L.E.G.O. (Learning and building, Educational and entertaining, Games and Gadgets Our Way)
School: ECFS
Coach: Ms. Lan Heng
Students: Adam Cohen, David Cummings, Jonah Feingold, Jayant Gandhi, Noah Kleinberg, Jono Naito

Outstanding Website Award
Reading Chris Van Allusburg
School: Hary T. Stewart, Sr. School
Coach: Mrs. Arlene Laverde
Students: Sadier, Alexandra, Valerie, Stephanie, Ines, Henesis

Outstanding Website Award
XtremeSportsCenter
School: Curtis High School
Coach: Mrs. Debra Butera
Students: Irosh Colombage, Damon Humphrey, Matthew Synan, Marvin Wilson, Costas Zaharakis, Robert Ludacer

Outstanding Website Award
Calendar Studies
School: Walton High School
Coaches: Ms. Pamela Randall, Mr. Jack Israel
Students: Ernest Agyemang, Alhusain Ahmed, Bernard Ayisi

Outstanding Website Award
Tang Dynasty
School: Lower East Side Prep
Coach: Mr. Henry Ruan
Students: Ziliang Liu, WeiPing Wang, GuangLiang Xiao, Guizhen Zhang

Outstanding Website Award
Museum of World Wonders
School: High School of Telecomm Arts and Tech
Coach: Ms. Rachael Monaco
Students: Alberto Chang, Moy Fabian, Shifat Noor, Dmitriy Prokofyev, Eric Tang

Outstanding Website Award
George Westinghouse Cert Prep
School: George Westinghouse High School
Coaches: Wayne Lippold, Robert Izzo
Students: Melissa Caraballo, Richard Hayden, Anthony McKoy, Kayon Pryce, Melicia Roache, Giviline Thoby