May 31, 1996

NYNEX CONTACT: Media Relations, (212) 395-0500

Massapequa School Students Win Top Prize In NYNEX "Kids In Touch" Network Contest

Massapequa, NY -- Students in Brian Mulcahys sixth-grade class at the Unqua School in Massapequa, Long Island, are now experts on how a telecommunications network operates.

Their entry in the NYNEX Kids In Touch (KIT) "Best Ping-Pong Ball Network Ever" contest was chosen as the Grand Prize winner over the five other state winners from throughout the NYNEX service territory, and today (5/31) the principal, teacher and students will be awarded more than $8,000 in cash and prizes. NYNEX Group Vice President Duane Albro will make the presentation.

"This is a wonderful contest for the students and for NYNEX, said Albro. The lessons learned from an exercise like this include the importance of teamwork, the development of students problem solving skills, good old stick-to-it-ivness and an understanding of the inner workings of the telecommunications network. Besides, its just plain fun, too.

For their winning entry, Mr. Mulcahy's students created a telecommunications network capable of sending a variety of coded messages around the classroom in the form of ping-pong balls. Using everyday materials such as carpet tubing, soda bottles, cups and other materials brought from home, the students assembled a network of "telephone lines" that allowed the ping-pong balls to travel from an input through a transport to an intersection where the balls were "switched" in one of several directions. Each sequence of ping-pong balls conveyed a unique message.

The entry was selected for its creative choice of materials, versatility, originality of the network and effectiveness of documentation.

The principal of the Iroquois School, John Caruso, will accept the $2,500 cash prize. Mr. Mulcahy will receive a $1,000 gift certificate for educational products from Scholastic, Inc., NYNEXs partner in presenting the contest, and each of the 22 children who participated in the building of the network will receive a $200 US Savings Bond, as well as a Kids In Touch backpack, t-shirt, watch, and a KIT button and certificate.

The contest is based on an activity in the NYNEX Kids In Touch educational program, a hands-on introduction to telecommunications concepts that is being distributed at no charge to 4th, 5th and 6th grade teachers in New York and New England. Nearly 9,000 teachers have the NYNEX KIT program in their classrooms today.

The sixth-grade class at the Unqua School was selected the Grand Prize winner by a panel that included Kids In Touch Advisory Board members, editors of Scholastic, Inc., and a representative from NYNEXs Science & Technology organization. First-place winners also were selected in each of the states NYNEX serves in the Northeast.