March 25, 1997

Dear parents,

Welcome to sitesALIVE! We are glad that you stopped to visit!

Now you and your family can fulfill the great promise of the Internet by linking to the adventures and expeditions in sitesALIVE! Your children will get an exciting and inspiring head start in their school subjects and future careers by connecting through sitesALIVE! to student researchers (older peers!) discovering and studying in exotic places around the world.

Explore faraway lands, complete interactive learning activies, send questions off the the remote student researchers, read their bios, see the pictures they've taken and read their journals and essays. It's the next best thing to being there!

Many families have enjoyed receiving our printed newsletters at home. If you'd like to receive these please subscribe below.

Welcome,

Rich Wilson, President
Ocean Challenge, Inc.

About Ocean Challenge:

• founded by adventurers and teachers in 1991

• each of our current programs connects to legitimate, for academic credit (although exotic and remote!) school programs, so that the student researchers on site may serve as inspiring role models for your children, and so that the content is of high quality and appropriate

• selected by ScottForesman, the largest U.S. science textbook publisher, to produce their first online field trip: Young America: Defending the America's Cup

• produced Prodigy's first Learning Adventure in 1993, The Voyage of Great American II, with 200,000 members participating

• recognized in the Guinness Book of World Records for breaking the clipper ship Northern Light's 1853 sailing record from San Francisco to Boston by way of Cape Horn aboard the trimaran Great American II in 1993

• selected by Tom Snyder Productions, esteemed by teachers for their supplemental educational software, to produce their first Internet offerings

• selected by Bonus.com, the Supersite for Kids, as one of their Editor's Choice programs

• all content is filtered by our in-house staff of teachers - there are no chat areas or unmoderated bulletin boards

• produced five online interactive programs since 1993

  • The Voyage of Great American II

  • The Whitbread Round the World Race

  • Class Afloat: Concordia Sails the World (1994-5, 1995-6, 1996-7)

  • Young America: Defending the America's Cup

  • Rainforest Live '97

  • Oceans Live '97

Quotable Quotes

• "I like getting your newsletters at home. I put them on the coffee table each week and my three children inevitably are drawn to them and read them. We've had some great discussions and they go back to the web site for more."
  ...Bill Darling, MA

• "Your programs are incredibly innovative. There’s nothing else out there like them. And on the Internet, they’re the only meaningful, well thought out programs available."
  …Peter Elarde, Director of Marketing, Tom Snyder Productions, Inc.

• "It’s the best program that this school’s ever seen."
  …Shelley Engstrom, teacher, North Attleborough, MA

• "It’s the one program we’re doing in school that is really happening instead of just pretending."
  …4th grade student, Merion, PA

• "You’re a pioneer."
  …Bernie Goldhirsh, Publisher, Inc. Magazine

• "At last, a truly interactive education program designed for the Internet. We’ve all been waiting for this."
  …visiting teacher, Florida Educational Technology Conference

• "It is a fantastic way to expose children to different cultures. The program pulls everything together…science, math, history, computers, and geography."
  …Sandra Regenscheid, 4th grade teacher, Staten Island, NY

• "What a truly exciting learning adventure!! The programming for this special event exemplified interactive education at its best."
  …Susan B. Jennings, teacher, Dommerich Elementary School, Maitland, FL

• "Hi Ocean Challenge! My packet came today at school and I was thrilled. The first newsletter is wonderful (I'm handing it out tomorrow), and the website keeps looking better and better. My kids are REALLY excited about doing this--some of last year's kids even came around and "proselytized!" I am really pleased with what you're doing. Our first projects are in the revision stage right now and should be ready to mail to Easter Island!! Wow!"
  ...Jody Lemke, teacher, Redmond, WA