The sharp detective work of area youngsters helped bring a teen boy safely home recently after he fell prey to a smooth-talking Internet predator.
Although the teen’a fictional character called Zackman’was part of an interactive computer game, his pretend dilemma helped Sashabaw Middle School seventh-graders learn some very real lessons about staying safe online.
Students were introduced to Zackman after he headed off to meet someone he believed to be a friend in California.
His parents were working with detectives from his local police department to find him. During five hour-long classes, the seventh-graders worked in groups of 2-3 to review evidence, record clues, and decipher codes in a game designed to illustrate dangers of talking to strangers online.
The program, in its inaugural debut at SMS, was approved by the school board last year after a proposal by Deputy Kirk Matich, Oakland County Sheriff’s Office Independence Township substation.
‘It’s a good time to do this,? said Matich, who serves as school liaison for Sashabaw Middle School, as well as Clarkston Junior High and all seven of the district’s elementary schools. ‘It’s summer, and many of these kids are going to be home alone while their parents are working.?
Kids were receptive to the program, he said, and were more likely to absorb ideas presented during the interactive game than if a teacher or other adult were delivering a lecture on the topic.
Matich said many of the kids told him they never knew Internet predators were so common.
And it wasn’t just students he hoped to educate.
‘The question I always ask parents,? said Matich, ‘is if your son or daughter were in the bedroom on the computer with the door closed, would you let a strange adult in your house to go in and sit next to them??
Once the program was complete and kids had the mystery solved, they were asked to complete an Internet safety plan and fill out a questionnaire about what they liked and didn’t like about the program.
Most kids reported a valuable lesson.
‘People can find out about you just from little details in pictures,? said seventh-grader Adam Gohl. ‘Like if I put a picture on MySpace and I’m standing in front of my house, they could see the address in the background. They could find you from just the littlest piece of information.?
Other kids saw a connection to things they’ve seen and heard about in the media.
‘You hear on the news about people who do get abducted,? said Jordan Robak. ‘It’s scary because sometimes they don’t come home.?
Most agreed something could quickly turn into a scary and dangerous situation.
‘They might want to do certain things with you that you don’t want to do,? said Mitchell Brown. ‘Like stuff that you don’t feel comfortable with.?
Program facilitators stressed the importance of making Internet safety a family priority.
‘The most important thing is that we want to start the dialogue with kids,? said Kim Prentice, Sashabaw Middle School technology integrator. ‘This is out there, and most of the time kids know more about it than parents do.?
Most kids believe the Internet is a safe place, and don’t usually tell parents even when something questionable does come up.
‘Kids this age assume they’re going to get in trouble,? said Prentice. ‘But these predators are good at what they do. Kids need to realize it’s not their fault and they need to let their parents know what’s going on.?