Drawing Attention to the Y2K Problem

As part of a campaign to remind people that there are 200 days before 2000, the Federal Reserve’s Los Angeles branch honored a Los Angeles fifth-grader for his color drawing of the “Millennium Bug.”

Four Los Angeles Unified School District schools participated in the Design the Millennium Bug contest. Nearly 40 fifth-grade students submitted their pictorial interpretations of the Y2K problem, which some think could lead to massive computer breakdowns once the new year begins.

Miles Safford of Ivanhoe Elementary School in Silver Lake won with his drawing of a bug lurking inside a computer hard drive as tanks aim weapons at it. An ATM card and a hamburger are included in the drawing to represent some of the basic services that may be affected by the Y2K bug.

“I just drew a bug inside a computer using all the wires and stuff,” Miles, 11, said. “I drew an army called the Millennium Brigade outside the computer, kind of shooting the bug.”

“So much of what’s in the media is aimed at adults,” said Federal Reserve spokesman Calvin Naito. “But Y2K affects kids too, and we can use them as a way to reach parents as well.”

Miles received a $200 U.S. Savings bond for his artistic efforts.

He had a few words of advice for those working to help ensure that services are not disrupted by the Y2K problem.

“Keep working until 2000,” he said. “That’s all we can do right now.”