Jessica Gould plays no favorites.

"I like to learn about everything," said the honors student at Palmetto Senior High School and Silver Knight nominee in the category of foreign language.

JESSICA GOULD

"I was fortunate to participate in a program of international studies as a child, where I first learned Spanish, and I've continued to be interested in it," said Gould, who recently traveled to Spain for the first time.

"We went with friends, and visited the coast of Malaga for a couple of weeks for vacation. I used my Spanish everywhere we went. It was a beautiful place, with gorgeous beaches and historical villages."

Gould said she would like to continue studying Spanish in college, but also would like to learn Chinese.

"Last summer, when I attended a special program at Stanford University, I met some students there who spoke Chinese," she recalled. "I was fascinated and immediately wanted to learn how to speak it too."

Gould attended Stanford as part of the Junior Statesman Program, which offers classes and seminars for highly gifted students interested in politics and debate. During the program, the high school students take college-level courses during the day and participate in nightly debates.
A champion on Palmetto's nationally recognized debate team, Gould also is a computer whiz, who has been at the keyboard for as long as she can remember.

"Ever since I was little, I've been on the computer and as I've grown up it's become more and more important for research, and projects and homework," Gould explained. "So when I found out how many children there are who don't have any access at all to computers, I wanted to do something about it."

Gould is the founder and manager of Net Pals, a program at Palmetto Elementary School that introduces underprivileged children to computers and provides training and tutoring.

"Most adults think that all children pick up computers easily, but that's not always the case. These kids have never been around computers before and the concepts can be difficult to grasp, like using a mouse or sending e-mail or having an on-line chat. If you've never heard of that before, it can be difficult to understand at first.

"So we start them off by giving them a basic introduction to the computer, then we play some computer games to get them used to using the mouse, then they learn about the Internet and everything else," Gould said. "They work with us for an hour a week, after school, then we provide them with a bus to take them home. Martha Carter, the Media Center Specialist at the school, helped me arrange that."

While Gould is the sole computer trainer in the program, many honors students from Palmetto Senior High volunteer as tutors.

"The technology gap in this country, between people who have access and those who don't, is growing at an alarming pace. And you have to have access to technology in order to be able to compete in the future world. I'd like to be able to expand our program to start with even younger kids, to give them a better chance."