Bellsouth Foundation Announces Superintendents' Contest.

Business Editors

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 2, 2000

Winners to receive team scholarships to the National Education

Computing Conference

The BellSouth Foundation today announced a contest for school superintendents in its nine-state operating region to win team scholarships for themselves and up to five additional staff members to attend the National Education Computing Conference (NECC). This year's conference is being held in Atlanta June 26 - 28, and is being hosted by the Georgia Institute of Technology's Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics, and Computing.

Through this contest, the BellSouth Foundation will be sponsoring team scholarships in each state for superintendents to lead their staffs through NECC's series of hands-on workshops, interactive sessions, and discussions with key industry leaders.

According to Kim Mulkey, director of technology for the BellSouth Foundation, the unique "team-aspect" of these scholarships will enable these superintendents and their technology staff to learn more about the numerous education technology applications now available in the marketplace, as well as provide them with a closer look at how technology can be used to enhance learning and better manage school districts.

"NECC is a great opportunity for our school superintendents and their staff to experience the excitement and enthusiasm that technology can bring to the classroom," said Mulkey.

Superintendents who are interested in participating in the contest must register on-line at the BellSouth edu.pwr3 web site, http:\\www.bellsouth.com/education. The contest runs from March 1 through April 15, 2000. Winners will be selected through a drawing and will be announced on April 19. Contestants must reside in BellSouth's nine-state region of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. Winners will receive conference registration, housing and travel to Atlanta for the duration of the conference.

NECC is sponsored each year by the National Educational Computing Association, which for 21 years has been providing K-12 and university-level education professionals with an annual forum to learn, exchange and survey advances being made in the field of education technology. The conference also hosts the largest vendor exhibition of its kind in the United States.

The NECC scholarship contest is a part of the BellSouth Foundation's edu.pwr3 program, a two-year, $10 million initiative to help school leaders, teachers and students fully harness the power of technology for learning. BellSouth's edu.pwr3 is being implemented in three phases: Power to Lead, Power to Teach, and Power to Learn. The contest is a component of Power to Lead, which focuses on school superintendents and state policymakers.

The BellSouth Foundation is an endowment trust, created by BellSouth Corporation in 1986. The Foundation has funded over 536 grants and operated numerous special initiatives with a total investment of more than $46,000,000. Its mission is to improve education in the South by stimulating fundamental change in primary and secondary education, resulting in active learning and improved outcomes for all students. For more information, visit BellSouth Foundation's Web site at http://www.bellsouthcorp.com/bsf.

BellSouth (NYSE: BLS) is a $25 billion communications services company. It provides telecommunications, wireless and wireless long distance communications, Internet and data services, advertising and publishing, and video and entertainment services to nearly 36 million customers in 20 countries throughout the world. NOTE: For more information about BellSouth, visit our Web page at http://www.bellsouth.com/