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Google gives internet safety tips to Canfield students
By ROBERT CONNELLY
CANFIELD
The red and green paddles flew up in the air. Kids eagerly shouted out “true” or “false” on survey questions from Google.
That’s how the technology company made its presentation about Internet safety interactive for students at Canfield Village Middle School on Monday morning.
Here’s one question: Is it true 25 percent of adults have had their phone lost or stolen? (That was true.)
Google shared five tips for the fifth- through eighth-graders during two presentations in the CVMS gym. Those were: Think before you share, protect your stuff, know your settings, avoid scams and be positive.
Nearly 900 middle-school students were split into two presentation groups, and parents were welcome to attend the event. The program did not cost the school district anything to host it.
U.S. Rep. Bill Johnson of Marietta, R-6th, spoke at both sessions, and his office helped Canfield schools bring Google reps here.
This is the first school in Ohio to host the event, said Jamie Hill, Google spokeswoman.
“I think young people need to understand the awesome power of the Internet, but along with that power comes awesome responsibility to be safe,” Johnson said, adding the students need to be responsible about what they put out there “because it can literally follow you for the rest of your life, and it can have tremendous impacts on friends and families and others.”
In fact, Joe Abernethy, a partner in education manager at Google, said during a job interview a potential employer pulled out a laptop with a presentation he had done back in ninth grade, and they wanted to talk about it with him. It wasn’t anything bad, but things posted to the Internet can stay there for years.
“Anything that you post online has the ability to be shared more than you intended,” Abernethy said.
Abernethy was joined by fellow partner in education manager Nicole Premo in presenting Google’s “Online Safety Roadshow.”
“This information is really great for anyone of any age to learn how to be smart and safer online,” Hill said. “It’s important for everyone to set strong passwords, and it’s important for everyone to avoid online scams.”
“We want to make sure that starting in middle school with these teens starting to go online that they develop these best practices,” Hill said.
Premo compared email scams, or phishing – when clicking a bad link makes your computer open to hacking or stealing information – that if it is too good to be true, it is “just like you wouldn’t take candy from a stranger.”
“As a building administration, safety for our students is the most-important thing and not only inside the building but outside as well,” said Judd Rubin, CVMS principal.
Olivia Leskovac, 11, a sixth-grader, said the presentation taught her to make a better password and to be more aware of what she shares.
Olivia said her parents are “pretty cautious about what I do on the Internet and they look over my Instagram page and they check my text messages. They not only check my stuff, but look over my friends’ stuff to make sure no one is doing anything wrong.”