By Kate Zardzin

Staff Writer

District 214 schools are trying to incorporate social media in education. The solution? Twitter. The twitter competition is a district-wide battle of following and retweeting school accounts which started March 31, and will end on April 11.

The Community Engagement and Outreach Department initiated the competition. The department noticed that schools have been embracing twitter, and they wanted to take it to the next level.

“I think we want to more widely establish twitter as a reliable and effective form of communication and engagement, that’s what my department is all about,” Erin Brooks, Assistant Director of Community Engagement and Outreach, said.

As of April 4th, Wheeling High School was in first place, and Prospect was in second. According to Brooks, the standings can change at any moment. Brooks explained that each high school was doing a great job of participating.

Associate Principal Scott McDermott explained that the competition’s purpose is to communicate with students, staff, alumni and parents of Prospect and all other District 214 schools.

“Twitter is where more people are living right now as opposed to Facebook or other social media,” said McDermott. “It’s a pretty quick way of communicating with people, and I think the fact that it has the limit on characters you can use probably helps people be a little more thoughtful on what it is they’re sending out.”

McDermott explained that Twitter is effective when it is relevant. For example, when tweeting about the pep assembly or a sports team.

The prize for winning first place for the competition is free ice cream from Capannari’s.