Big turnout shows up to learn about New Tech High School in Bloomington, Ind.

Byline: Brady Gillihan

Oct. 24--Eager parents and potential students of Bloomington's New Technology High School can now apply to the new school, which is promising to teach "21st-century knowledge and skills."

The project-based learning school is supposed to open its doors to the first class in August 2008, and many families have wondered how to enroll, if there are academic criteria to meet and where the actual campus will be.

The principal of the school, Alan Veach, was joined by two of his teachers, Drew Schrader and Ann Burke, Monday evening as he spoke to the nearly packed auditorium at Tri-North Middle School and attempted to address those questions and many more.

Based on the welcoming speech given by Veach, one of the focuses of the school will be to have a computer-to-student ratio of 1-to-1.

"How many of you students have a MySpace profile? How many students text and e-mail?" Those were some of the questions Veach posed to the students in the audience. He went on to say that today's students' worlds are vastly different from those of their parents, and yet many students still "learn at school while sitting in rows," not unlike the way their parents learned.

Veach said it's important to differentiate New Tech from a "technical" school.