Florence McGinn, a former US Commissioner on the Congressional Commission on Web-based Education, a former Microsoft-sponsored Technology and Learning National Teacher of the Year, and recipient of the Princeton University Distinguished Secondary Educator award, presented on technology-assisted learning projects that emphasized empowering leadership, innovation, academic excellence, and cutting edge technology. Accompanying Florence McGinn were HCRHS students, Emily Judson and Douglas Gorton, innovative student leaders of award-winning pilot projects.

Ten, international, keynote speakers were selected. Philip Yeo, Chairman of the Singapore Economic Development Board and Deputy Chairman of the National Science and Technology Board, spoke as a recognized pioneer of Singapore IT industry. He addressed the topic of new leadership for a knowledge-based economy.

Joining Philip Yeo and Florence McGinn as keynote speakers were IBM Professor of Psychology and Education at Yale University, Robert Sternberg, and senior partner with Educational Renaissance Planners, Alan November.

While in Singapore for Conference 2000, Florence McGinn, met with interested school leaders, made additional presentations at sites such as the Singapore Anglo-Chinese Junior College, and assisted in the dedication of cutting edge computer lab classrooms at ACJC.

Hunterdon Central Regional High School's former Superintendent Raymond Farley, President of GS21 and a leader in educational reform and implementation of innovative, technology-integrated, award-winning educational infrastructures extended Conference 2000's two day impact and depth. Following a Conference 2000 session, Raymond Farley gave a full day seminar for Singapore's educational administration.

Publishing on the Internet brings immediacy and relevancy to student writing. Students are delighted that their poems are published on the Internet as part of a Millennium Project sponsored by the Ministry of Education in Singapore. Students from US classrooms have had their poetry published on the Internet at Singapore's Ministry of Education site (must be viewed in Explorer) at
http://www1.moe.edu.sg/

America students have been published by the Ministry of Education in Singapore

Final Unity
By Erin Young, USA

A moment before the clock strikes midnight
All is deathly silent
Only anticipation
Penetrates the stillness
Suddenly a gong sounds
Reverberating like the beating
Of a heart
Calling all people to unity
Enveloping them in a trance
The faint beating mesmerizes them
And they put down their weapons
Forgetting the hostility and hate
That has gone back a thousand years
If only for a moment
Black, white, red, yellow
All mesh together in perfect unity
Until one can scarcely be separated
From the other

dare you risk it?
a never-ending glide on thought-flawless wings of crystal black
a silver-coated slide to horizons of infinity and back
propelled by imagination, you're slicker than a dream
destruction and creation all much quicker than they seem

but the dangers of failure
lurk all over looking for you
crash and burn if you get unlucky
shot down from the azure sky

think about my invitation
assimilate the information
weigh the pros and cons in your mind
think about it and I bet you'll find
that flying and risking a nasty fall
is better than never flying at all.

(flying without wings)

Joel Tay
Joel Tay lives in Singapore. He has won
many national and international awards
for writing. He has often been one of the
youngest in these competitions.
Joel Tay likes to read work from O'Henry
and aspires to become a novelist.