Global Virtual Classroom 2009/2010 Award Winning Websites Announced

DALLAS, May 4 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The Give Something Back International Foundation (GSBI) has announced the winners of the 2009/2010 Global Virtual Classroom Contest (GVC) -- a free online collaborative learning project that fosters creativity, cross cultural understanding, helping others and teaches IT and website design skills amongst students working together from around the world.

Sponsored by GSBI, the GVC program provides an opportunity for primary and secondary school students from different countries to work with and learn from students in other countries, as they collaboratively design a website on a topic of their choosing. Teams are comprised of either three primary or three secondary schools from different countries. A panel of international judges evaluates the final work and determines the winners.

In September 2009, AT&T* announced a $49,500 contribution to support the Global Virtual Classroom project.

With subjects that range from environmental protection and conservation to cultural comparisons of their respective countries, and from people and events who have changed the world to predictions about the future, sites from participating teams show the kind of creativity that can come from putting approximately 2000 students from 26 different countries together in a collaborative endeavor.

Their efforts were judged for content, presentation, collaboration, and a helping focus. The helping focus encourages students to also demonstrate achievement of a helpful objective such as personal, social and/or environmental responsibility or support for a worthy cause.

This year's Grand Prize winner for the primary school category is the "Save Earth" website created and built by students from Percy Julian Middle School in Oak Park, Illinois, USA; Saint Mark's Public School in New Delhi, India; and Washington West Elementary School in Olean, New York, USA.  The website focuses on the environment and provides information on conservation and recycling around the globe.

The Second Place winner in the primary school category is the "Past, Present and Future Life" website designed by Long Beach Middle School in Long Beach, Mississippi, USA;  Ein Ganim Elementary School in Petach Tikva, Israel; and The New Roberto Clemente School in Paterson, New Jersey, USA.

In Third Place of the primary school category is "Imaginary Island" website presented by Abraham Lincoln Elementary School in Oak Park, Illinois, USA; Island Village Montessori School in Venice, Florida, USA; and Tainan Municipal Haidong Elementary School in Tainan City, Taiwan.

The secondary school category's Grand Prize winner is the "Service Before Self" website presented by students at John Muir School in San Diego, California, USA; Saint Mark's Public School in New Delhi, India; and Wako Kokusai High School in Wako, Japan. The website highlights individuals and organizations that exhibit the attitude of helping others and service.

The Second Place winner for the secondary school category is the "People and Events that Change the World" website developed by Littleton High School in Littleton, Colorado, USA; Rajini School in Bangkok, Thailand; and Gimnazjum No 4 in Gdynia, Poland.

In Third Place of the secondary school category is the "Mystical Creatures and Gods" website created by Penang Free School in Georgetown, Malaysia; Percy Julian Middle School in Oak Park, Illinois, USA; and Chavakali High School in Kakamega, Kenya.

Certificates of participation are awarded to all students. Plaques and cash awards are presented to the schools of the winning teams. The Grand Prize award is $3,000 for the winning primary school team and $3,000 for the secondary school team. The second place award is $1,500 for each winning team and the third place award is $750 to each team.

JoAnn Patrick-Ezzell, the Chairman and one of the co-founders of the Give Something Back International Foundation said, "The winners represent wonderful diversity from around the world.  They are from: India, Israel, Japan, Kenya, Malaysia, Poland, Taiwan, and Thailand and, in the U.S. from California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Mississippi, New Jersey, and New York.  I'd like to thank AT&T for their great support of the GVC - their commitment to supporting education projects around the world is truly inspiring."  

To view the winning websites visit www.VirtualClassroom.org.  Online applications for the 2010/11 program are also available on the site.

*AT&T products and services are provided or offered by subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. under the AT&T brand and not by AT&T Inc.

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