OAK PARK, Ill. (Dec. 10, 2002)

Two Catholic Elementary Schools in Oak Park have been honored with a national technology award.

St. Edmund School and Ascension School won first and third place awards, respectively, in the AT&T Broadband Emerging Technology Awards for Educators Program. The award honors schools that propose the most innovative projects using cable television stations available on AT&T Broadband or the Internet in the classroom.

Representatives from both schools are scheduled to participate in an awards ceremony at the Museum of Broadcast Communications in Chicago on Dec. 11. Reporter Bill Kurtis, a former Chicago news anchor who now hosts the A&E Network’s “Investigative Reports,” will host the awards ceremony.

St. Edmund School
Students participating in St. Edmund’s award-winning “Middle Ages Project” are using technology to visit medieval castles, design coats of arms and learn about life in the Middle
Ages – all without leaving their classrooms. St. Edmund is one of only two Illinois schools to take home top AT&T honors of $3,000 and a digital camera.

“‘The Middle Ages Project’ is designed to draw on students’ knowledge of geography, problem solving, writing and research, vocabulary building and critical thinking,” said Margaret Evert, St. Edmund’s principal. “In addition, this project incorporates technology into the classroom in a meaningful way.”

“The Middle Ages Project” enables students in first through eighth grades to use the Internet and the History Channel to study the art, music, culture and lifestyle, religion, military and socio-economic aspects of the Middle Ages. Students learn about music by creating videos of musical performances; learn history by digitally recording virtual interviews with major historical figures of the time and by watching the History Channel; and learn about the culture of the times by using the Internet to virtually tour castles and museums. In addition, the students will create a Web page of what they have learned. The project will continue through the end of the school year.

“We hope that students will recognize and appreciate the connection between subjects such as the influence of art on cultural change,” said Nora Schenk, the school’s librarian. “We want students to view these subjects not as distinct but rather as mutually reinforcing and interdependent.”

In addition, St. Edmund students plan to celebrate what they’ve learned through song and entertainment when they host a dinner for the school in February 2003 and a “Medieval Faire” for students and parents and in April 2003.

Other teachers involved in teaching “The Middle Ages Project include Sheila Goggin, a first-grade teacher; Kathy Kambach, an eighth-grade teacher; and Margaret Scully-Granzeier, a computer instructor.

Ascension School
Ascension’s project, “The Wright Look at Geometry,” encourages seventh graders to examine and study the use of geometric shapes in nearby architecture. Students participate in field trips to Frank Lloyd Wright’s home and studio in Oak Park, research the Internet, and view the cable channel HGTV, which specializes in architecture and interior design. In addition, students create a Web page about what they have learned.

“The Wright Look at Geometry” project also encourages language arts students to research Frank Lloyd Wright’s life by using the A&E channel’s “Biography” series as a resource. The project will continue through the end of the school year.

“We are delighted that our school has been chosen to receive this award,” said Lorelei Bobroff, Ascension’s assistant principal and an eighth-grade language arts teacher. “The winning teams were recognized at a teacher workshop held at Navy Pier last summer and will be recognized again in Washington D.C., this month.”

Ascension is one of only two Illinois schools to win AT&T’s third-place award of $1,000 and a digital camera.

AT&T Awards
The AT&T Broadband Emerging Technology Awards for Educators Program recognizes schools across the United States that incorporate cable television or the Internet into the classroom. AT&T selects 16 schools with first-place awards of $3,000 and a digital camera; 16 second-place schools with $2,000 and a digital camera; and 16 third-place schools with $1,000 and a digital camera. The entrants are judged on the project’s innovation and creativity, how likely it is to be adapted for use in the school, how likely the students and staff are to participate in the project and how the project will affect technology-based learning in the classroom.

Archdiocese of Chicago Catholic Schools
The Catholic schools of the Archdiocese of Chicago play a critical role in the life of the community by providing academic excellence and faith formation for 117,229 students of many races, faiths and backgrounds in the 290 elementary and secondary schools in Cook and Lake counties. There are more than 6,400 teachers in the Catholic school system who instill values, teach discipline and achieve strong, consistent academic results in the Archdiocese of Chicago's 248 elementary and 42 secondary schools. Visit the Archdiocese of Chicago Website at http://schools.archchicago.org