Ooltewah Middle School Website Of The Year

8th graders Ashley Rudolph and Brendon Phillips are hard at work on the computer.  But the work they're doing at school, will actually help other kids and their parents. They are entering information onto the school's website.

Rudolph says, "I like to see how things are done and work, and it's different from the way you see it on one page, and on another."

"I just like go around, get information," notes Phillips. "Since I play a bunch of sports, it's easier for me to get some of it."

Since the beginning of the year, a half dozen students come in 3 days a week to work on the school website, and that work is obviously paying off.

Hamilton county school leaders say Ooltewah Middle has the best school website of the year. It's the 4th time in 6 years the school has won that distinction.

Patrick Whitecotton is a teacher, and the school webmaster. Whitecotton is proud of the site's success. "To me, you know you're successful when, uh, teachers are going to the website to get information they need for what's going on in our schools, when parents are not calling a school anymore to get information, but they're going to the website."

Students help gather all that information, everything from when picture day is, to who won the school's baseball and track meets.

In the process, these young middle school students may gain the knowledge they need to pursue a career in the ever expanding world of the internet.

"I love to work with computers," says Rudolph. "I want to be a teacher, and teach other kids how to work with computers, and how to do websites."