by Elizabeth Farina
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Fifth-grade teachers and students, start your search engines! Web Wise Kids President Judi Westberg Warren was in Chesterfield County on Wednesday, April 15 to kick off the one-week contest with huge prizes for the winners - $10,000 for computer equipment for the winning school and a ride from home to school by NASCAR champion Bobby Labonte, who drives the No. 96 Ask.com Ford.

The contest, sponsored by Internet search engine Ask.com and Web Wise Kids, is to acknowledge one local elementary school that has a superior cyber safety program. Richmond and surrounding area elementary schools’ administrators and teachers can visit http://www.safesearchschools.com for the contest’s entry form. One in approximately 150 schools has a chance at winning the prize. Deadline for blue-ribbon judged entries will be Wednesday, April 22.

Warren encourages parents and law enforcement to also partner with, or continue the partnership with, schools in teaching cyber safety. Before the green flag speeds a child off into the World Wide Web, parents might want to make sure their children have the necessary safety gear for the digital universe. “The Internet can be a vibrant world full of positive exploration, but it’s important to make children aware of the negatives without preaching,” Warren stated.

The sweeping presence of the online world in people’s daily lives is exponentially growing. Children are no longer idling couch potatoes feeding on T.V., but are spending more interactive time on the Internet. According to the organizations statistics, “children ages 10 to 14 years-old spend more time on the internet than watching television, and often start online research with a search.”
Warren encourages that education is key in pointing out the beneficial access to information and the potential dangers online is critical. “It’s critically important nowadays because the Internet is everywhere – at school, at a friend’s house and mobile devices,” she said.

Similar to learning about bike and pool safety, Internet safety is another component to growing up.  She added that even young students need to be able to make “critical wise choices” when challenged online with permanent life-changing incidents such as cyberbullying and sexting.

Warren also added that even kindergarten students are not too young to start talking to about Internet safety. “Twenty percent of five-year-olds are online now,” she said. “It’s never too early to provide secure learning now.”

Entries from the school and individual fifth-grade student will be judged by Ask.com CEO Jim Safka; Web Wise Kids President Judi Warren; NASCAR President Mike Helton and driver Bobby Labonte. For information about the contest, enter http://www.safesearchschools.com