Author: Tammy Lane • First Posted: Friday, December 05, 2008

Henry Clay seniors Courtney Baughman and Chandni Shah talked with Morton sixth-graders about Internet safety. "It's important for them to know when they're younger," Courtney said. (Photo: Tammy L. Lane)

When children venture out of their familiar neighborhood into the limitless cyber community, they need to be aware of the high-tech pitfalls and potential dangers.

“Personal information is the biggest thing,” said Chandni Shah, a Henry Clay High School senior who talked to youngsters at Morton Middle School one day last week.

Among her advice: Never disclose phone numbers, addresses, school names, pictures or other descriptors that could help an online predator. 

Shah and fellow Henry Clay High senior Courtney Baughman prepared their Internet safety lesson as part of the school district’s i-SAFE mentoring program. 

Each year, all Fayette County Public Schools are required to review such topics as cyber bullying, online predators, inappropriate Web sites, intellectual property (e.g. music downloads), plagiarism and cyber security. Middle schools have the additional opportunity to invite high school mentors to come in and speak with their sixth-graders. 

“Since we’re older, I think they pay more attention to us,” Baughman said after her first presentation at Morton, where she and Shah used a pencil-and-paper survey and PowerPoint visuals to reinforce their message. 

Neva Christensen, the technology resource teacher at Morton, said the varied formats and interaction with older students help engage the middle school crowd. 

“The worst thing you want children to do is close down and not pay attention,” she said, adding that after listening to the older students, her kids wind up thinking “it’s actually something that’s real to our lives.” 

A couple of years ago, the school superintendent’s student advisory group (known as Stu’s Crew, a collection of middle and high school students that meets monthly with the superintendent) suggested the district come up with more vibrant and more relevant classroom instruction for the mandated Internet safety lessons. Thus was born the mentoring program, which draws participants mostly from Stu’s Crew and the Mayor’s Youth Council. 

Fall training provides the mentors some teaching tips for a sixth-grade audience and background material on their chosen safety issue. 

“They can come up with a creative way to teach that lesson,” said Leanna Prater, a district technology resource teacher who coordinates the mentoring program. “The high school kids are out there, so they know what the middle schoolers will see or deal with.”