October 2008 — News/In Brief
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Technology + Online + Industry + Partnerships
Seeing the 'Green' Light
A new essay competition asks secondary students to describe how schools can best use technology to preserve the environment.
WITH TECHNOLOGY and the environment
increasingly at the forefront of global discussion,
PC Mall Gov is giving
middle and high school students an opportunity
to examine how one can be used to make a
positive impact on the other.
Partnering with T.H.E. Journal, Hewlett-
Packard, and InFocus, PC Mall Gov is accepting student
entries for its Green Light Contest. Students in
grades 5 to 12 must submit an application along
with an essay of 1,000 words or less that
describes a potential program to help students
and teachers use technology to protect the
environment. The essays must also reflect on the
overall impact the technology program
could have on the school and
surrounding community.
The programs presented
in the essays
will be scored by a
panel of judges from
the education technology
field based on
their potential environmental
impact,
originality, implementation
capabilities, and
potential for replication.
The four highest-scoring
essays will be published
on www.thejournal.com.
From those four essays, the
judges will choose two firstprize
winners-- one from
grades 5 through 8 and another
from grades 9 through 12-- to
each receive an environmentally
friendly HP laptop. One of the
two first-prize winners will be
named the grand-prize winner and
receive a 30-seat "green" computer lab for his or
her school. The lab will include HP thin clients
with a server, software, and networking
equipment, as well as laptops, a printer, and an
InFocus projector. The winners will also be
recognized during the 2009 Florida Educational
Technology Conference, which
will be held Jan. 21-24 in Orlando, FL.
"We are excited and pleased to offer this
contest to students across the country," says
Alan Bechara, president of PC Mall Gov. "Our
partnership with HP and InFocus enables us to
encourage students to think about how technology
and environmental awareness come together
in our schools and classrooms, and how we can
responsibly use these tools not only to advance
learning but also to protect the environment.
There is no better group
than our tech-savvy students
to think about, and address,
these issues."
"It is our hope that through
this contest we will foster lifelong
interest in environmental
stewardship through the use of
technology," adds PC Mall Gov
Vice President of Business
Development Sharon Ennis.
Entries are due Dec. 1, and each
school may only submit three essays
per grade level. If you would like more
information about the Green Light
Contest, including submission criteria and
applications, visit
