Contact: Linda Topoleski, 412-281-2345 Or: Island Trees Middle School

ltopoleski@dymun.com Teacher Eileen Anderson, 516-520-2157

- UPDATE -

Levittown Students Named as One of Eight Finalist Teams in National Science Competition—Win Trip to Walt Disney World®

Island Middle School Students Take Steps to Prevent Deaths from House Fires

AUBURN, NY,—April 18, 2006—Bright ideas, solid research and teamwork won four students from Island Middle School in Levittown, NY, a berth as finalists in the Christopher Columbus Awards, a nationwide program that challenges middle-school students to explore opportunities for positive change in their communities. Eighth-graders Robert Pulido, Joseph Gombar, Chris Pizzo and Greg Karbuczky, and their science teacher, Eileen Anderson, had made it to the semifinals earlier this month and now are one of eight teams in the country to compete for the grand prize—the $25,000 Columbus Foundation Community grant.

Every year, more than 5,000 people in the U.S. are killed by house fires, a number that has not changed in the past 50 years, and is often attributed to a delay in evacuating the home. The students conducted a survey of teachers, families and other residents near their school and found that nearly half do not have an evacuation plan for their homes in case of fire, other than to yell, ‘Fire!’ A third do not own a fire extinguisher, and of those that do, many do not know how to properly use it.

To devise a solution that would reduce evacuation times and potentially reduce the death toll, the students equipped a special fire extinguisher with an alarm that sounds as soon as the extinguisher is picked up and deployed. The alarm would alert residents as soon as a fire breaks out, possibly prior to the sounding of a home’s smoke alarm. To test their invention, the students role played typical scenes in a home, with a teenager sleeping in a bedrooms and kids playing loud video games in another room. They tested the alarm vs. shouting ‘Fire,’ in four different homes. Subjects in the experiment either did not hear the word fire in the mix of other sounds in the house, or did not realize the severity of the situation. With the alarm sound, the subjects reacted almost immediately since it was a high-pitched sound, unique to the household.

A panel of community leaders, scientists and experts in science education judged this idea as one of the top eight entries in the U.S. Over 1,200 students and coaches participated nationwide.

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Team Wins a Trip to Walt Disney World®

The team wins an all-expense-paid trip to the Walt Disney World®Resort, where they will compete in the Christopher Columbus Awards' National Championship Week, May 28-June 2, 2006, plus a $200 grant to further develop their ideas.

Each member of two Gold Medal winning teams will receive a $2,000 U.S. Savings Bond and one team will receive the $25,000 Columbus Foundation Community Grant as seed money to help bring its idea to life in the community. The Grant winning team will receive support from the Christopher Columbus Awards staff and continued guidance from their coach and community leaders.

The finalists will also attend the Christopher Columbus Academy, a custom-designed educational program. Conducted by scientists, engineers and educators, the program reveals the science and technology behind the thrills and excitement of Epcot® and the Magic Kingdom.®

Positive Community Change

The Christopher Columbus Awards challenge teams of middle-school students to explore and discover opportunities for positive change in their communities using science and technology. The program is now in its tenth year and has attracted nearly 14,000 students from diverse backgrounds all across the U.S. The program is sponsored by the Christopher Columbus Fellowship Foundation (www.columbusfdn.org) with support from the National Science Foundation and it is endorsed by the National Middle School Association. Past winners have included a group of Native American girls who built a study hall out of straw on the Crow Indian Reservation in Montana, and a group of students from Pennsylvania who developed a video/motion sensor device for school buses that deters motorists from trying to pass illegally.

Strong Participation from Girls, Minorities

The program attracts many students who may not typically enter a science competition. More than half of the entrants are girls, and more than a fourth are from diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds, statistics that are higher than those of most science competitions. The Christopher Columbus Fellowship Foundation believes the teamwork aspect and community focus draw a broader range of students to enter.

For more information, call 1-800-291-6020 or visit www.christophercolumbusawards.com.

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