Telecom Technology Brings Millennium Celebrations

The countdown to the new millennium kicks off in classrooms this term with Telecom Yay 2K!

Telecom Yay 2K! is a Telecom Education Foundation programme of activities celebrating New Zealand and its people.

The programme, organised with the New Zealand Millennium Office, starts on July 12 with an AudioConference on the topic, First to the Future, Tuatahi Ki Tua, featuring Frank Stevens of the New Zealand Millennium Office as guest speaker.

Stevens, who shot to fame in New Zealand and overseas in the 1970s as an entertainer, is a representative of the Millennium Office which allocates government funding and is putting together the Official Millennium Celebrations Programme.

First up in Telecom Yay 2K! students will focus on the dawn of the new millennium, celebrate the achievements and excellence of New Zealanders in all endeavours during the past 1000 years.

Coming up will be sessions on the country's cultural diversity, the natural environment, the place and role of Tangata Whenua, the dawn of the "Pacific Age" in the new millennium, and APEC

Telecom Yay 2K! will use email, the Internet, faxing and AudioConferences to help students with their activities.

Registration for this programme is free and schools are invited to join at any stage. An education resource kit with curriculum based classroom activities, certificates of participation and a colourful wall poster are part of the registration package.

Telecom Yay 2K! follows last year's highly successful classroom activity, Wonders of the World, which linked schools via AudioConferences, faxes and the Internet with Peter Hillary in Nepal, Sarah Berry in Greece and experts on Australia's Great Barrier Reef.

"Yay 2K! is a fitting way for Telecom to celebrate the new millennium with New Zealand's young people - the country's future," Telecom External Brand Manager Gillian Vosper said.

"It offers them the chance to learn more about the special nature of New Zealand using technologies they will use in the online world of the new millennium.

"It's important our young people know how to use the tools which will help guide them into the next century. A great website has been developed for the programme at www.tef.telecom.co.nz/1999_2000 and creates a fun learning environment including sounds and flash animation technology," she said.

New Zealand Millennium Office manager Sharon van Gulik welcomes Telecom's initiative to take millennium celebrations into the classroom.

"Children are a key part of our "First to the Future' theme and we've worked closely with Telecom to ensure the Yay 2K! programme portrays this and our other uniquely New Zealand themes," she said.

"We're very pleased to work with Telecom to help excite the imagination of young New Zealanders as we head towards the third millennium," Sharon van Gulik says.

ENDS

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