Project Lets Students Tap Into Technology

The children ignored Bonnie Bracey when she told them it was time to leave the truck. They just kept pounding away on the computers.

The 10 children, ages 4 to 12, and Bracey, a Virginia schoolteacher, were on CyberEd, a truck full of computers, printers and a small presentation theater.

The truck was parked Tuesday at 112th Street Elementary School in Watts, where it was packed with students, teachers, residents and computer experts. The truck will remain at the school today.

Sponsored by a group led by MCI Foundation and other organizations, it is part of a White House program to bring the private and public sectors together to help economically disadvantaged areas keep up with technology.

“This is so much fun,” said Christina Elizalde, 12, who with her friends Ibis Herrera, 10, and Ana Calderon, 10, were having fun printing out pictures of gorillas and monkeys that they clicked on with the help of computer experts aboard the truck.

Heading the outreach program of the National Information Infrastructure Council is Bracey, the only teacher on the council. Bracey, who has been on this road show on stops in New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Chicago and Detroit, said that the younger children get started by looking up a favorite topic on the computers. Three popular targets are basketball superstar Michael Jordan, the late Latina singer Selena and that old standby: dinosaurs.

“The kids are learning faster than the teachers because they are not scared,” Bracey said.

As the children experimented with the computers, Councilmen Richard Alarcon and Mark Ridley-Thomas met with community and business leaders in hopes of getting more computers for the schools.

“We need to get the kids learning on the Internet so they won’t have to be learning about gangs,” Alarcon said.

The truck will be at Maclay Middle School in Pacoima on Friday and Saturday, then move to Oakland where it will end a nationwide tour.

“The hardest part is getting the kids off the truck,” Bracey said. When the children ignored her request to leave, she just shook her head and laughed.