by Leslie Campbell
Northern News Services

NNSL (Aug 20/97) - This summer some students spent part of their vacation surfin' Yellowknife.

But they didn't need a funky board and high-rolling waves for this kind of surfin' -- they used computers to surf the Internet.

Twenty Yellowknife kids ranging from ages 12 to 16 attended the Internet camp "Dino's to Diamonds -- How the Net Rocks."

The camp, held at Sir John Franklin high school, ran from July 14 to Aug. 11. Each session lasted about two weeks, with a morning and afternoon class held each day.

According to Kim Duong, camp instructor, "the kids came motivated and some even tried to beat me getting to class. They really liked the camp."

Kids learned how the Internet is used, e-mail, the World Wide Web, newsgroups, North of 60, netiquette and a whole lot more!

At the end of the two weeks all the kids had created their own homepages.

But it wasn't just a curiosity about the Internet that attracted the students.

"They wanted to learn more about the Internet so they could apply it to their school work and research projects," said Duong.

Safiya Adam, 16, who attends St. Pat's and her 12-year-old sister Zahrah went to both sessions. Safiya had nothing but good things to say about the program.

"I had been on the Internet in school but I didn't know very much before." Now she's quite comfortable searching for information on the Internet.

"I had experience using the Internet at school and I really liked the class," said 12-year-old Sara Thomson, a student at William Macdonald.

And soon Thomson may be passing on some of her net knowledge to another set of potential net junkies.

"My parents are getting hooked to the Internet and they want me to learn how to use it and show them," she said.