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MASSARO: Her mission: Safe Web experiences for kids

By Gary Massaro, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published April 8, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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Jennifer Hanson says people told her she'd be a good teacher.

Jennifer Hanson says people told her she'd be a good teacher.

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Jennifer Hanson tries to teach kids how to surf the Internet without doing any wipeouts.

Thursday, she was awarded Qwest's national Spirit of Online Safety Award in Washington, D.C.

Hanson, 31, teaches other teachers in the Boulder Valley School District, as well as students, about appropriate ways to use the Internet - how to avoid predators, how to notify parents or teachers if something inappropriate pops up. She imparts to youngsters that they should be gentlemen and ladies on the Web - at home as well as in school.

Hanson is also president of the 2-year-old nonprofit Colorado Internet Safety Foundation, which puts on seminars for other schools and law enforcement.

"My passion, I've discovered, is children. Anything we can do to make their world safer is what we should be doing," Hanson said. "And my other passion is technology. Who doesn't love an iPod and Internet and all that other good stuff? We want our children to use technology. But we also want them to be safe."

Hanson wasn't sure she wanted to be a teacher after she graduated from Pomona High School in 1994.

"When I was growing up, a lot of people told me I should be a teacher," she said.

So she took a few education courses at Metropolitan State College of Denver. And she learned they were right - all the people who advised her to teach.

"It ended up being a good fit," she said.

After graduating in 1999 with a degree in behavioral science and a teaching certificate, Hanson taught in Cherry Creek grade schools for seven years.

While with Cherry Creek, Hanson began taking courses for a master's degree in education technology leadership from a branch of Adams State College at Alamosa.

Then she joined Boulder Valley schools in 2006 as instructional technology specialist. A parent asked if she'd be interested in being a part of the Internet Safety Foundation. She said yes and now serves as its president.

Hanson doesn't have a classroom.

"I work with all 51 schools in Boulder," she said.

When she's not teaching, Hanson volunteers with the Blue Knights drum and bugle corps, something she was involved with in high school.

"I was in the color guard," she said.

"I tried playing an instrument. But I wasn't any good at it," she said. "I'm far better at the dancing part."

To get away, she heads for a cabin in the mountains.

"I love all the outdoor things. It's a typical Colorado answer, but it's true," she said. "It's why we live here. We ski. We snowboard. We snowmobile."

Coming home, she received a lot of congratulations from colleagues and friends. But there was one sidelight to the award that really lights her up.

"The most exciting part is I can Google myself now," she said.

massarog@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5271