Contact: Ryan Wagner
202.585.2040
Contact: Ashley Vanarsdall
202.585.2130
STEPOnline.com Expedition Summits Mt. Everest Thousands of Students Take Virtual Journey to World's Highest Peak
(Washington, D.C.) May 24, 2001 - Climber Nancy Feagin
successfully reached the summit of Mt. Everest yesterday supported by Expedition Leader Ben
Webster, while taking thousands of elementary, middle and high school students from across
the country to the top of the world with them. The students were part of STEPOnline.com's
"Everyone has an Everest" campaign and followed the journey online as a way of learning
important life lessons.
"Climbing Mt. Everest is one of the hardest things I've ever done in my life," said Nancy
Feagin. "Sometimes the only thing that kept me going was knowing that I was setting an
example for thousands of kids, and I couldn't let them down."
"We faced challenges on the mountain just as teens face challenges in their daily lives," said
expedition leader Ben Webster, who successfully reached the summit of Mt. Everest last year.
"We wanted to bring students along in our backpacks and send the message that if we face our
challenges by setting and pursuing goals and working together, we have the best chance to stay
safe, healthy and succeed."
Webster made the ultimate team sacrifice in deciding not to go to the summit this year. Within
hours of the summit he made the decision to commit scarce resources to the other climbers and
stay behind to provide an extra margin of safety if any rescue support was necessary.
"Watching Ben make this sacrifice so Nancy could fly our school flag on the summit of Mt.
Everest gave all of us the confidence to take on our own challenges," said Justin Green,
student body president at Yorktown High School. "Growing up in today's society is not easy,
but the StepOnline message is that if you face challenges head on, you can overcome any
obstacles that might be placed in your way - including peer pressure to use drugs."
At www.steponline.com, students tracked the expedition's trials and successes in real time.
Through live chats with Ben and Nancy, daily dispatches, streaming video and digital photos,
they shared in their victories and tribulations.
The entire expedition encountered its share of hardships. Nancy persevered through a
pulmonary edema (swelling of the lungs) in addition to an intestinal parasite, which
threatened her ability to finish the journey. The expedition also dealt with a serious
blow when Nepalese hero and legendary climber, Babu Chhiri Sherpa died in a nearby crevasse.
Never before have American students had access to frequent live Web chats with Mount
Everest expedition members from the mountain. In addition to daily updates and the
climbers' journal entries on the StepOnline Web site, they held online chats with students
in Phoenix, New York, Nashville, Maine, San Francisco, Miami, and Minneapolis. Ben and
Nancy kicked off their journey with students from Yorktown High School in Arlington, VA on
March 23rd.
S.T.E.P. provides a comprehensive 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. STEPonline.com uses positive reward programs to encourage students
to participate in interactive, online modules that provide invaluable information on drug use
and healthy alternatives through the eyes of both experts and teens.
CLIMBERS WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR INTERVIEWS FROM THE MOUNTAIN ON
FRIDAY, MAY 25 FROM 8-11 P.M., AND NEXT WEEK BY APPOINTMENT
