WashingtonWEB Guide

By Rajiv Chandrasekaran and Margot Williams
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, June 23, 1996; Page B01
Updated January 21, 1997


For a complete listing of area school boards and high schools online, look here.

Colleges & Universities
American U.
Anne Arundel Community College
Bowie State U.
Capitol College
Catholic U. of America
Columbia Union College
Gallaudet U.
George Washington U.
Georgetown U.
George Mason U.
Howard Community College
Howard U.
James Madison University
Marymount U.
Montgomery College
Mount Vernon College
Northern Virginia Community College
Prince George's Community College
Strayer College
Trinity College
St. John's College
U. of the District of Columbia
U. Md.-College Park
U. Md.-University College
U.S. Naval Academy
Washington Bible College

Education
March 11, Gar-Field Senior High School in Woodbridge was an overnight hit on the Web.

"One night we're nothing and the next night we're on a [national] pick of the week list," said Richard Leung, 17, one of the creators of Gar-Field's "Digital Indian" site. Yahoo!, a national directory that defines what's new and hip on the Internet, lauded Gar-Field's coverage of school life as well as its useful financial aid and scholarship information. "What else is there to say except: Cool!" Yahoo!'s reviewer wrote.

At all educational levels and ages, young people around the region are making the Internet an extension of their school buildings, with all-night libraries, bulletin boards and schoolyards for socializing after homework is done.

Bill Willis, the faculty adviser to the Gar-Field Web masters, said he wasn't looking for national recognition when he bought a book about Web page design in January.

He was thinking about the printed school fliers, announcements and circulars that too often are lost before parents can read them.

"Our primary focus is to get parents more informed so that they can get more involved," Willis said. "Parents want to know what's going on here, including the bell schedule, exam schedule and what activities they can be a part of."

The Gar-Field site has school news, sports scores, alumni e-mail addresses and a message board for students.

Almost all the area's public school districts have sites featuring information about schools, personnel and programs, including the District, Charles and Montgomery counties in Maryland, and Fairfax and Prince William counties in Virginia.

But to understand what's really happening, click away from the administration and into individual school pages, such as the one for Montgomery Blair High School, which boasts a "virtual" picture gallery of the school that visitors can "walk through."

In the District, Banneker Senior High School has an unofficial site created by a Howard University student assistant, and Barnard Elementary School has a home at Watoto World, a "Web site for children, parents and educators of African descent" on the Afrocentric MelaNet commercial service.

Private schools are well represented, too. Gonzaga College High School in the District, for instance, offers links to student and alumni home pages, staff e-mail addresses, a countdown to the first day of school and the SAT question of the day.

Higher education sites, including George Mason University and the University of the District of Columbia, draw some of the heaviest traffic. Howard University offers access to its library catalog, summer school schedule, a photo gallery with images of Howard's 1900 football team and special projects such as the results of a Million Man March survey.

The University of Maryland's "inforM" is an electronic clearinghouse for College Park campus life, with academic program guides, calendars and a student center where teenagers and college students can meet on-line.

Staff writer Dan Beyers contributed to this report

There's more! Read the rest of the Washington Web Guide.

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