Projects



Cyber Safety in a Box™
The Boston Public Schools' (BPS) Cyber Safety Campaign™ is marketing Cyber Safety in a Box�.
The product/concept is to structure the opportunity for teachers, schools, school districts or community organizations to purchase the CSC materials for children in grades Kindergarten�8th grade. There is
two boxes available. The K�3 Box contains age-appropriate materials. The 4th�8th Grade Box contains
more mature materials. The materials in the boxes is similar to some extent. Each box has a set number
of items including: (1) set of 5 posters, (1) copy of the movie �Jake�s Cyber Adventure,� (30) bookmarks
and a set of (30) trading cards. The K�3 Box includes (30) cyber safety hero puppets and (100) coloring
sheets of the cyber safety heroes. The grade 4�8 Box includes (30) copies of a thirty-page comic book
and (30) key chains.

For more information or to place orders, please contact Felicia Vargas at fvargas@techboston.org or
by phone at 617.212.6492.

Summer 2009

5000 Boston Kids Get Smart About Cyber Safety This Summer
The Boston Public Schools� (BPS) Cyber Safety Campaign™ is a unique program aimed at educating
young people in Boston communities about safe Internet behaviors. Designed by BPS kids for kids,
the Cyber Safety Campaign materials and activities were created to educate youth and their families
everywhere about how to best protect their online activities and experiences.

Launched four years ago by the BPS Office of Instructional and Information Technology (OIIT),
the program has continued to grow with new Cyber Safety Campaign materials and activities being
developed every year. The graphic design concept, created by BPS students, features the BPS
Cyber Safety Heroes � Amika, Shield, Copyright and Firewall. These safety heroes help deliver the
message to kids about the best ways to be safe online.

This summer, thanks to the generous sponsorship of Microsoft and the Boston Society of Information
Management, the BPS was able to continue the successful Cyber Mentor program. This program,
overseen by the BPS TechBoston department (a division of OIIT), hires and trains high school students
to serve as Cyber Safety Mentors. Once trained, the Cyber Safety mentors are deployed to community-based organizations and summer camp programs to conduct cyber safety educational presentations. During the
summer months, nine Cyber Mentors fanned out in teams across the city and succeeded in giving 90
presentations and reaching over 5,000 people! Dressed in their blue T-shirts with the turquoise blue
BPS Cyber Safety Campaign™ logo, the Cyber Mentors used the BPS cyber safety materials, including
a movie, comic book, trading cards, key chains and buttons to spread the safety message to kids attending
summer programs at churches, Boston Centers for Youth and Families, YMCAs and even Fenway Park!
The Cyber Mentors were also co-presented at two Internet safety presentations in August conducted for
the BPS School Police with Eric Esteves and Joe Kidd from the BPS technology department.

The Summer 2009 Cyber Mentor team included Darnell Coleman and Antoinette Jean from the
John D. O'Bryant School of Math & Science, Idris Ali from East Boston High School, Hansey Blanfort
from Madison Park HS, Cassandra Clark, Chloe Lynn and Aaron Sheffield from TechBoston Academy,
Shaquille White from Brighton High School and Chavella Lee who attends Boston Latin Academy.
Two BPS graduates, Vasantee Reddicks and Rachel Gaffney, were tapped by TechBoston to oversee
the summer project.

Summer 2008

Cyber Safety Mentors Branch Out to Boston Public Libraries
Boston Public Schools� TechBoston program is partnering with the Boston Public Library�s (BPL)
Neighborhood Services Department to promote Cyber Safety during the summer. Fourteen Cyber
Safety Mentors recruited from Boston high schools and BPL�s Homework Assistant Program (HAP)
will be trained to conduct cyber safety activities at 27 branch libraries throughout the City. The
program is sponsored by Microsoft, the Boston Public Library Foundation, the Boston Society of
Information Managers, and Boston Public Schools. Bunker Hill Community College and the National
Science Foundation are providing presentation skills training and are underwriting printing costs.
Additional support is being provided by a National Science Foundation Advanced Technology Center
grant called Boston Area Advanced Technological Connections (BATEC).

The Cyber Safety Mentors will become �cyber safety certified� through the i-Safe program and receive
presentation skills training provided by TechBoston. The students will also develop and refine youth-focused
Cyber Safety presentations within this timeframe. During the remaining four weeks of the program, the
Cyber Safety Mentors will be work in the branch libraries to educate youth and families about how to
stay safe online.

The Cyber Safety Mentors will use the BPS Cyber Safety materials that were developed last summer with
Microsoft�s support. The program organizers anticipate that this cyber safety outreach effort will reach
approximately 5,000 children, teens and adults at the branch libraries.

The program will continue in September when the Cyber Safety Mentors recruited by the Boston Public
Library�s Homework Assistance Program will train the other 120 HAP mentors who are employed by
the BPL during the school year. All BPL HAP mentors will be required to conduct Cyber Safety sessions
for young students who they mentor throughout the year at the branch libraries.

The Boston Public School students will be contracted by TechBoston to work during the 2008-09 school
year to conduct Cyber Safety outreach activities at elementary schools in Boston Public Schools.

TechBoston director Felicia Vargas will coordinate the program along with Koren Stembridge, Boston Public
Library director of Partnerships, Programs and Youth Services. Two college interns will supervise the Cyber
Safety Mentors. Felicia Vargas and Koren Stembridge plan to document this innovative project and present
the outcomes at national Education and Library conferences.

For more information, please contact Felicia Vargas at 617.212.6492 or email fvargas@techboston.org or
Koren Stembridge at 617.859.2320 or email kstembridge@bpl.org