Hello,
 
It may be for the best to hold onto this particular press release idea for a few weeks.  The recent shooting and the end of spring semester probably consume most people's attention in the short term, at least in the U.S.  We'd likely do better if we waited until early summer when exams are over and faculty begin to think about how to plan new classes for the fall.  For Stateside readership a June release seems about right to me.  I'm not sure whether that timing applies to other countries.
 
During the meantime I'll be glad to collaborate on a draft press release.  This brand new WikiProject is already seeing exciting developments.  This week we received an unexpected post from a student who had been brainstorming with friends about starting a Wikipedia club: they would collaborate after school and try to raise one page to Good Article status every month.  My first piece of advice was to seek a faculty sponsor.  Not only is that a fantastic idea, it's scalable.  Imagine if Wikipedia clubs became a new extracurricular trend.
 
Regards,
Lise Broer
(aka Durova at Wikipedia.en)

> Date: Wed, 25 Apr 2007 17:46:53 -0400
> From: sordonez@wikimedia.org
> To: ; lise.meitner@hotmail.com
> Subject: WPCC - Need Volunteers
>
> Hi guys,
>
> I need help with Wikiproject Coordination. We need to:
>
> 1) Do a bit of research and draft a press release and translate it. (as
> well as get quotes from volunteers, particularly Lisa, who is main contact.
> 2) Research academic/education journals to send to....and find contact
> information
> 3) People that would be willing to actually pitch the story in their
> respective countries.
>
> As always, please email me directly if you are interested, or have any
> comments.
>
> Sandy
>
>
> See info: (From Lisa Boer)
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WP:WPCC
>
>
> We have 19 Wikipedian volunteers so far and our first coordinated
> project is underway: an instructor from the University of Minnesota is
> working with us to enhance a freshman composition assignment where
> groups of students collaborate to create a new Wikipedia article. Our
> volunteers will review draft versions in the students' userspace and
> offer suggestions before these pieces get uploaded into the main
> project, then if all goes according to plan we will honor the best group
> effort with our project award the WikiPen. Our goal is to offer
> feedback that helps these students meet encyclopedic standards - we're
> not here to do the assignments for them, but a few tips about reference
> works and copyediting would probably help them be better students as
> well as better Wikipedians.
>
> Our project is open to all educational levels. In order to maintain a
> safe environment we plan to work primarily with teachers at the
> pre-university level. Instructors can look to our project for examples
> of classroom assignments that have been successful in the past and for
> tips on structuring lessons in ways that conform with site policies.
> One interesting twist to this WikiProject is that some of
> our experienced site volunteers are themselves students.
>

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