Get Online and Climb Mount Everest Interactive Site Allows Students to "Get in the Backpack" for Historic Expedition
(WASHINGTON) March 21, 2001 - S.T.E.P. (Student Teachers Employers and Parents) today
launched "Everyone Has An Everest," located at www.steponline.com to allow students to
interact with expert climbers Nancy Feagin and Ben Webster as they tackle Mount Everest this
spring. S.T.E.P. will kick off its "Everyone Has An Everest" campaign with an exciting online
event at 9 p.m. EST today featuring Stacy Allison, the first American woman to summit Mount
Everest.
"S.T.E.P. is using our expedition to teach the lesson that with hard work and healthy choices
people can overcome life's obstacles," said Nancy Feagin, who hopes to be one of only a
handful of U.S. woman who can claim they have reached the summit of the highest mountain in
the world. "With this Web site, and other state-of-the-art communications equipment we will
have on the mountain, schools across America will have unprecedented access and exposure to
this powerful lesson."
S.T.E.P. provides a comprehensive in-classroom prevention education Web site focused on
assisting young people in discovering who they are, where they are going, and how to make
healthy lifestyle decisions along the way. Building on the foundation of other programs,
STEPonline.com uses positive rewards, such as point programs to encourage students to
participate in interactive, online modules that provide invaluable information on drug use
through the eyes of both experts and teens.
"We're providing a unique opportunity for people to virtually get in the backpack and climb
Mount Everest with Nancy and Ben," said S.T.E.P. president Mary Black. "Students will have
an opportunity to learn first hand what it takes to climb to the top of the world."
At www.steponline.com, students will be able to track the expedition's progress in real time
from the moment the team leaves the U.S. on March 23, to the summit bid, which will happen
sometime in the last two weeks of May.
"Want to know what a toque is, who the Sherpas are or how much chocolate we take along? It's
all online. Check it out!" said expedition leader Ben Webster, who has reached the top of
several of the world's highest mountains including Everest, Kilimanjaro, Admirante and
Illiampu.
Educators and parents who visit www.steponline.com will find a series of lesson plans and
education modules that encourage goal setting, teamwork and healthy living and discourage
drug use. The customized educational resources are being provided in partnership with The
Partnership for a Drug Free America and will be distributed to schools through the USA Today
Education network and to Web site visitors.
Stacy Allison became the first American woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest on
September 29, 1988. She recounts the Everest challenge in her book, Beyond The Limits:
A Woman's Triumph on Everest. It is a suspenseful, triumphant adventure story - a primer
for anyone who has ever faced a mountain, physical or metaphorical, and reached for its
summit. Allison's new book, Many Mountains to Climb: Reflections on Competence, Courage and
Commitment is an anecdotal account of climbing struggles with tips, cautions, alerts,
suggestions and planning ideas to help readers plot their way to personal success.
