FBI impressed with Riverside Sixth Graders

By Rusty Nixon
Director of Development and Alumni Affairs

PLYMOUTH - The diligence of FBI agents usually leads to the agency getting their man. In this case however, they got a whole class - the sixth grade class at Riverside Intermediate School in Plymouth to be exact.

Computer Applications teacher at the school - Amy Gerard - recently received an alert from the Bureau about her students and their online activities. Sixth Grade students at the school scored highest in the nation in the FBI-SOS Internet Safety Challenge.

"The FBI website teaches kids about internet safety and has a program that included a pre-test before taking the course," said Gerard. "We spent several weeks after the test teaching the course and then the students take another test."

The Riverside students did pretty well.

"They had the highest score in the nation for the month of April," said Gerard. "The FBI office in Indianapolis will be sending a representative later in the month to talk to the students about internet safety, about what it's like to work at the FBI and present us with a trophy."

In a world that is ever changing and full of technology, the savvy of the Riverside students about safety is a pleasing thing.

"It's something that everybody at the Plymouth School Corporation is very sensitive to and trying to emphasize all the time," said Gerard. "We live in a world that is filling with all sorts of technology and our students are extremely involved with it everyday - at school and at home.

"That technology offers all sorts of exciting opportunities but our kids need to be aware that it also has possible dangers. You see news stories all the time about bad things that can happen to kids who aren't careful. It's very important they be aware of possible dangers and make good decisions."