The Intel Corporation and Intel Foundation are putting more money and technology behind efforts to train students for a high-tech future.
The Intel Science Talent Search -- a national pre-college competition for scientifically-minded students -- will award $1.2 million a year in cash, scholarships and prizes, the company reports.
The new awards mark a major increase from the $330,000 given out last year and are made possible by a grant from Intel and its foundation to Science Service, which administers the competition.
All levels of competitions will see increases in prizes. The 300 semifinalists -- chosen from over 1500 applicants -- will receive $1,000 each, and their schools will receive $1,000 to support science and math programs.
The 40 finalists -- to be recognized at an awards ceremony in Washington, D.C., next year -- will each receive a new laptop computer with an Intel Pentium III processor. The top winner will also get a $100,000 four-year scholarship.
The rest of the finalists also get scholarships. The Science Talent Search, taken over by Intel in 1998 from former sponsor Westinghouse, is in its 59th year. Information and entry forms for the competition can be found on the STS Web site.
In the meantime, disadvantaged students from the Silicon Valley area are learning what it is like to repair, upgrade -- and possibly own -- their own computers, the San Jose (Calif.) Mercury News reports.
Students participating in Intel's Carver Scholars Program got to spend two days at Intel working on laptop computers no longer being used at the company.
The children tested all of the parts on each computer, formatted the hard drive and installed the operating system. They also installed donated copies of Microsoft Office 2000.
After finishing the computers under the supervision of Intel engineers, the students were allowed to borrow the computers for their own schoolwork. The laptops are officially donated to the Carver program, but students can earn the right to keep them permanently by earning points for such things as good grades and field trips.
The Carver program -- developed in partnership with the Santa Clara County Alliance of Black Educators and the Healing Institute -- is named in honor of George Washington Carver, the Mercury News reports.
Participants are nominated by their teachers. Other activities run by the program include a science fair camp, the Mercury News reports.
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