Youths' interest in math, science no trivial matter at Prince George's technology summit

Being first to come up with the answers to questions such as “What year was Facebook founded?” and “What is the most-used search engine?”, Jabari Williams, 13, and his three-person team took first place in a “Jeopardy!”-style game Saturday that focused on popular technology.

“I'm into technology and social networking, so many of those questions were easy to answer,” said Jabari, an eighth-grade student at Ernest Everett Just Middle School in Mitchellville. “Plus I'm very competitive.”

The trivia game was one of several interactive and educational games played by both parents and students at the first Patro-Tech Game Show Summit in southern Prince George's County at Gwynn Park High School. The summit was hosted by the Patriots Technology Training Center and Prince George's County Councilman Mel Franklin (D-Dist. 9) of Upper Marlboro to encourage Prince George's youths to consider going into the “STEM” fields of science, technology, engineering and math, which have become vital to the future of the county and the nation, Franklin said.