News Archives

Age Category: 5-9 years old

Alexis A., 9, from Loves Park, IL, loves animals (especially butterflies) and plans to be a veterinarian or research biologist. Each year, with her mother, she raises and releases 400 Monarch butterflies. With a computer, she’ll no longer need to keep her database on paper. Plus, she’ll be able to research butterfly migration patterns and communicate with other butterfly breeders around the world to share knowledge and photos.

Age Category: 10-13 years old

Kevin D’A., 13, from Rolling Meadows, IL, is a budding filmmaker who uses his computer to make animated movies involving people, trucks, furniture, as well as the insides and outsides of houses made from LEGO®. He wants to expand his horizons and creative executions by using additional computer software.

Age Category: 14-17 years old

Bonnie P., 16, from Sterling, VA, an avid photographer, says she needs additional computer programs to go beyond her school’s darkroom and computer capacities to “advance my skills and pursue my love for photography and graphic design.”

Age Category: 5-9 years old

Nicholas G., 8, from Pacifica, CA, logs on to his computer to draw things and then build them with LEGO. “My mom says I’m creative and that I should be an engineer or artist,” he says. “And I think I can be an engineer.” Sometimes he spends two or three days using the Paint® program on his computer to perfect his designs before he constructs them with LEGO®. He looks forward to sharpening his computer skills “so I can read measurements and blueprints and design anything for my work.”

Age Category: 10-13 years old

Sabrina G., 10, from Millbrae, CA, loves cooking for her parents instead of them cooking for her. “I can’t wait to become a great chef and have my own TV cooking show,” she says. Her family loves her “famous Asiago bagel sandwiches with egg, Cajun sausage and pepper jack cheese.” She looks forward to using the computer to research recipes.

Age Category: 14-17 years old

Sterling L., 14, from Libertyville, IL, is a graphic designer who feels limited by the crude logo designs his current software enables him to do. He looks forward to upgrading to Adobe Photoshop® so he will have a better opportunity to flex his creative muscles and design cool logos.

Age Category: 5-9 years old

Phillip W., 5, from Homossasa, FL, takes violin lessons. He has already taught himself to play the harmonica and piano. When Phillip grows up, he wants to be like his uncle in Ecuador who plays in an orchestra and gives free music lessons to kids “who have no money but want to learn music.” He plans to use his prize money to buy GarageBand®, a software program that will help him learn more about music.

Age Category: 10-13 years old

Matthew F., 12, from Rolling Meadows, IL, currently uses his father’s computer “which is old and slow.” He wants a new computer to help him “study hard, ‘get my game on,’ and do my homework on time everyday and completed with quality.” He plans to become an engineer and create new transportation methods and new methods of making trash into sources of clean energy.

Age Category: 14-17 years old

Kristen K., 17, from Hanover, IL, believes that “kids are blank canvases that need to be painted on by teachers.” Going into fourth grade, Kristen says she was shy and her teacher Mrs. Kaplan helped her “to speak up, come out of my comfort zone and make friends with other children.” Kristen looks forward to using a computer to help her earn a master’s in early childhood education and “make a difference by becoming an educator.”