Students and families at Marion Rodgers Middle School attended a free internet safety workshop on April 30. The Be Internet Awesome event was hosted by the Rodgers Parent Teacher Student Association (PTSA) and provided in collaboration with the National Parent Teacher Association (PTA).
The Rodgers PTSA applied and won a grant to host the Be Internet Awesome internet safety workshop. Be Internet Awesome is a program from Google designed to teach kids the fundamentals of digital citizenship and safety so they can explore the online world with confidence.
The workshop at Rodgers had high schoolers, middle schoolers and elementary-age kids participate, as well as parents. The event began with a discussion between adults and students about the differences between growing up with and without smartphones, search engines, location tracking and texting.
“I liked hearing about how different things were for my mom before people had cell phones. Her mom had to trust her because she couldn’t check in when she was out, but now my mom has to trust me that I’ll follow the rules with my phone,” said seventh grader Natalie Caranza.
The Be Internet Awesome program recognizes that every family’s relationship with technology is unique. The workshop materials guided a discussion about not sharing personal information or photos, having strong passwords, avoiding cyberbullying, understanding the unreliability of what is presented online due to artificial intelligence (AI), setting rules about guardians having access to kids’ accounts and being willing to report inappropriate content or messages.
Attendees at Rodgers were given a Family Guide and broke into groups to try out some of the activities. The activities related to five areas that can help create digital safety: Be Internet Smart, Be Internet Alert, Be Internet Strong, Be Internet Kind and Be Internet Brave.
Rodgers PTSA treasurer Naima Marhi enjoyed seeing the meaningful conversations.
“The group activities were a fun way for parents and kids to share their different ideas about being safe online. I think the kids were able to see the importance in some of the rules their parents have for them,” Marhi said.
The event also included an introduction to the online video game Interland (where kids go on quests while learning about internet safety), Google Family Link (a tool created to help parents) and Google SafeSearch.
To find out more about Be Internet Awesome, visit www.pta.org/home/programs/connected/be-internet-awesome.
