Bell Atlantic Awards Grants to Schools in Harrison, Wood Counties

Bell Atlantic Awards Grants to Schools in Harrison,
Wood Counties

Funds Help Teachers Tap Resources of Internet

September 2, 1998

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Two schools in Harrison and Wood Counties
will receive $2,600 from Bell Atlantic's WORLD SCHOOL® Grant
Program to help them use the global resources of the Internet in their
classrooms.

Bell Atlantic - West Virginia has awarded over $200,000 in WORLD
SCHOOL grants since the program began in 1995. Just since the first of
the year, the company has distributed over $21,000 to West Virginia
schools.

The latest grant winners are Bridgeport High School in Harrison County
(applied for by faculty member Terry Kerns) and Wood County's
Madison Elementary School (Carol Thorpe, faculty).

"These two teachers have demonstrated enthusiasm and creativity in
harnessing the Internet to enhance learning," said Dennis Bone, president
and CEO of Bell Atlantic - West Virginia.

Bridgeport High School will receive $790 which will be used in
conjunction with accessing the Internet for a variety of life science studies.
Their research will focus on such areas as the life cycle of monarch
butterflies and the habitat preferences of salamanders.

Bell Atlantic's grant of $1,820 to Madison Elementary School will help
establish a Web site containing information on the relationship between
humans and endangered species. The site will include original artwork and
links to related Internet sites.

Educators can learn more about these and other projects by accessing the
WORLD SCHOOL site on the World Wide Web. The Web address for
WORLD SCHOOL is http://www.k12.wv.us/wschool.

The WORLD SCHOOL Grant Program complements Bell Atlantic's
WORLD SCHOOL project, through which the company is offering direct,
high-speed digital Internet access to 832 K-12 schools in its West Virginia
service area. Teachers in all schools served by Bell Atlantic - West Virginia
are eligible to submit applications for the grant program.

The company awards individual WORLD SCHOOL grants of up to
$4,000. A panel of education leaders and Bell Atlantic employees judges
all grant proposals. Grant money cannot be used to purchase basic
telephone services or hardware, such as computer monitors, hard disk
drives, printers or liquid crystal display panels.

Educators can obtain applications on the WORLD SCHOOL grants
program by calling the Bell Atlantic - West Virginia public relations office
at 1-800-642-8206.

The Bell Atlantic Foundation supports a variety of projects domestically
and internationally, with an emphasis on new technology applications in
education, health and human services, the arts and humanities, and civic
development in the communities served by Bell Atlantic. For more
information, visit www.bellatlanticfoundation.com on the Internet.

Bell Atlantic is at the forefront of the new communications and information
industry. With more than 41 million telephone access lines and more than
seven million wireless customers worldwide, Bell Atlantic companies are
premier providers of advanced wireline voice and data services, market
leaders in wireless services and the world's largest publishers of directory
information. Bell Atlantic companies are also among the world's largest
investors in high-growth global communications markets, with operations
and investments in 23 countries.