LEONARD GRAY

LULING – St. Charles Parish schools took a step into the international arena recently by receiving the 2001 Computerworld Smithsonian Award. Kendall Stall, information technology services director for the school system, received the medal in ceremonies at San Francisco City Hall on April 8. Stall received the award for his department’s project, “Bridging the Digital Divide,” a program which provides computer access opportunities for more people. The program takes older computers and supervises students making the repairs and upgrades, making the technology available to more people. Computers have been distributed to African-American churches, teachers, students and community members through various sources. In addition, community education classes taught after normal business hours and school computer labs kept open to the public are providing instruction for those new computer users. The computer coordinator for Bell Baptist Church in Luling noted in a letter, “We have installed a color printer, science, math and spelling games. The next phase will be extensive training in Excel and Word. The process of connecting the internet is in progress. This will help our students with their research work for class papers and projects.” BellSouth Mobility donated 16 computers, Compaq Computer Corp. donated seven more computers and Computers for Louisiana’s Kids, a state-managed agency which distributes used equipment, added 20 more computers. “This is incredible,” Stall said regarding the award. “No one expects something like this to happen.” BellSouth is one of the founders of this Information Technology Award and nominated Stall’s program for receiving it.