CYBERSPACE PARTY DRAWS SIXTH-GRADERS

Twelve Southeast students hosted a Cyberspace party Saturday morning for Cape Girardeau sixth-graders, with the intention of introducing them to the Internet.

Afterward, one of the university students admitted that "Some of these kids know more about the Internet than I do."

The party at a Dempster Hall computer lab was attended by only 18 elementary students though all sixth-graders attending Cape Girardeau's schools were invited.

All the Cape Girardeau public schools were represented at the party except May Greene.

The event was the contribution of Southeast's Students In Free Enterprise organization toward Make A Difference Day, a nationwide day of volunteerism sponsored by USA Weekend and the Points of Light Foundation.

Other Cape Girardeau organizations also participated in the day. Southeast's Sigma Sigma Sigma sorority held a Halloween party for children, the United Way Board of Directors painted the gymnasium floor at the Cape Girardeau Civic Center, and Southeast's Gamma Sigma Sigma sorority made quilts for at-risk babies.

Chris Yuen, who attends Clippard School, came to the party "just for the fun of it."

He's already online and sometimes spends an hour a night browsing.

But the party was a first venture into Cyberspace for Josiah Wynn, a Franklin student.

"I just want to learn the basics," he said.

His family has a computer and is hooked up to the Internet, Josiah said, "but we don't know how to use them."

The Southeast students in SIFE took a beginners approach to getting online, starting with how to turn the computers on. But soon enough the elementary students were playing a game in which the person who first found a picture of the Mona Lisa or Garfield won a candy bar.

Competition was fierce. Chris Yuen cleverly searched for Garfield with the name Jim Davis but still didn't win any chocolate.

SIFE organized the Cyberspace party for sixth-graders for a reason, said Keith Heuring, a university senior. "They're old enough to know how to operate a computer but young enough that not all of them know how to use (the Internet)."

The Internet has been invaluable to him as a marketing major, he said. "It's amazing what you can find. And what takes an hour may take four hours in the library."

SIFE, an organization new to the campus, will be involved in other projects throughout the school year, Heuring said. The 14 members, whose majors range from fashion merchandising to general studies, put their projects into increasingly tough competitions where they are judged by CEOs.

"Most students leave the international competition with job offers," said Dr. Jack Sterrett, chairman of the marketing department at Southeast. He is the SIFE adviser.

Computers and the Internet haven't transformed marketing, which still relies on databases. But they have widened the playing field, Sterrett says.

"Technology has introduced to us more competition. We're now in the international arena."

Josiah Wynn just wants to use the Internet to pursue information about the things he likes: Cats, music and animals, among others.

Josiah wasn't discouraged that some of the other students were able to track down topics faster than he was. "I don't want to be fast," he said. "I just want to learn."