Contacting Us
Project Coordinator
Hello, I am Shawna-Kaye, thanks for stopping by the site. I learnt about the Childnet Academy for the first time when a friend of mine entered the competition and won. It so happened that as a part of the duties I had at a summer job that same year, I had to cover a press conference about 'an internet academy that would be staged in Jamaica in 2005'. Sure enough I attended, wrote promos about the 2005 competition and considered entering.
I thought of a website where young people could share stories of how education (something I value dearly) was changing their lives and about any risks they had ever taken in life. Most of my Jamaican friends were like me, working hard for what they wanted; then I got to Bates and saw that it was the same for many people from India, Vietnam, Nepal, Trinidad, Sweden, Rwanda and many other places...I really wanted to tell these stories.
Being cramped with work, I almost never had time to enter the competition because I kept thinking "it's just an idea anyway." One day though as I was listening to the radio, I heard this song and the words were as if they were my own from my own mouth:
"Buildings with a hundred floors Swinging around revolving doors
Maybe I don't know where they'll take me but
Gotta keep moving on, moving on
Fly away, breakaway..."
It was the theme song from the movie Princess Diaries 2, Breakaway, by Kelly Clarkson. I passed the idea by a friend, Trang, and found out that she had already built a website with a similar focus - mentoring Vietnamese youngsters. I entered.
Being a part of the Academy was fabulous (nowhere like Mobay!) and it was there that I met a UK genius named Rob Wright, the one who has so willingly supported me in the most tangible way of building this whole thing! I can't believe how excited he is about this and how wholeheartedly he has adopted this project. Thank you Rob.
Please enjoy the site and share your stories with us.
Web Developer
My name is Rob Wright and I deal with the graphic design and technical side of the Breakaway website. I've had a passion for all things computer-related from a very early age, and recently my attention has moved to web development mostly, and my involvement in the Breakaway project first started when I won a place in the Childnet Academy 2005 with my website, Xenonic.com.
I first met Shawna-Kaye at around 8pm on a warm Jamaican evening in Montego Bay. Both winners of the academy, I was fairly jetlagged at this point being a Briton with 6 hours in time difference and total of around 10 hours flying time, but she was quite awake and teaching everyone to dance. The following day I heard her plans for Breakaway in a moving presentation and knew instantly the site would be a success. Although not actually constructed at that stage, the ideas, enthusiasm and charisma behind the project was sure to make it something special.
After a superb week of workshops, sunshine and fun, I went back to my home town of Northampton in England and prepared for my final exams. We kept in touch, and a couple of months later I was recruited to start developing the site. There was currently nothing actually built, so I set to work on some designs, first drawing out mock layouts on paper.
My job is basically to turn Shawna-Kaye's dreams into reality! To tell her what's realistically possible, and sometimes even code her unrealistic ideas when she's insistent! I also design all the graphics for the site and promotional material.