Saturday, April 19, 1997

Netday 2000

NEW YORKERS DO have a heart! (Who said we didn't, huh?) To prove this, the turnout on April 19 for Netday2000 at Washington Irving High School was a CyberSocial Register's dream come true. Nicholas Butterworth of SonicNet, Random-Man Geo Geller, Howard Greenstein of Microsoft, top people from Poppe Tyson, David Packman of N2K, Michael Dorf of the Knitting Factory, 70 students and 300 more devoted netnauts showed up to wire the school, set up hardware, install software, and map the network to propel this school into the future. One tenth grader, Aneudy Caba, and Greg Elin, (the Sun-sponsored-motorcycle-trip-across-the-US man) commented, "We did a way cool job with the 8th floor." Everyone echoed Andrew Raisej and Cecilia Pagkalinawan's enthusiasm in doing something so worthwhile. This national initiative also rose local interest. Area business owners, government, community, and education figures showed up. And WIHS wasn't the only local school wired: groovy cyberteacher Ted Nellen led a massive effort to upgrade the pipes at Murry Bergtraum HS.

(Appeared originally in @The Scene in the @NY newsletter)