Blackfoot YEP! Helps students strive for excellence.

In June 2000, Blackfoot Telephone Cooperative (Missoula, Mont.) began its youth education program to increase opportunities for rural students to learn about new technologies through Blackfoot YEP! (Youth Education Program). The program's goal is for students to learn without limits and expand their knowledge beyond the classroom walls through the use of technology.

It all began when the University of Montana's director of education approached Blackfoot Telephone and asked for help in reaching out to smaller rural schools through its Earth Orbiting Satellite (EOS) Project. Funded in part by NASA, the EOS project teaches students about geography through the Internet.

In response, Blackfoot Telephone held a live videoconference attended by area educators. The conversation eventually led to the need to place more emphasis on incorporating technology in the schools.

Blackfoot Telephone serves 22 rural exchanges in western Montana and 29 public schools. The school districts vary in size from a one-room school with a single teacher to a community with nearly 600 students. Along with the diversity of the schools comes the different ways in which technology is incorporated into their curricula.

The Superior School District uses numerous tools in the curriculum that integrate technology into the classroom, including both software and hardware provided through Blackfoot YEP! Creative writing classes use digital cameras for projects. Science labs have digital microscopes, and other classes use GPS units, graphing calculators and specialty software.

The goal of the district's technology plan is to teach students, beginning with kindergarteners, skills they will need throughout life, such as problem-solving, multitasking and critical thinking.

The key to implementing technology is to make sure it is useful and effective. Technology isn't just computers, however, and the programs encapsulated in Blackfoot YEP! ensure that other important tools, like the Internet and networking, are placed in the hands of students.

Blackfoot YEP! also includes other education-focused programs, such as the Blackfoot Telephone Cooperative Scholarship program; the Electronic Educational Equipment Program (Triple E), which helps public schools buy computers, software and other electronic equipment; and participation in the Foundation for Rural Service Youth Tour to Washington, D.C. To date, more than $250,000 worth of equipment has been granted to schools through the Triple "E" program.

"It's easy to build programs based on helping our local public schools and our youth," said Joan Mandeville, Blackfoot Telephone's chief executive officer. "Getting advanced technology into the classroom and making the connection with Blackfoot as their local telecommunications provider is a natural partnership."

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

By Nina Duncan, Blackfoot Telephone Marketing Representative