We see a huge number of sites every month. People submit sites to us on a daily basis, and we find more and more that every site, or nearly every site (this month, it was every site) could qualify to be a Star School. They're well-designed, easy to navigate, updated regularly, packed with information; our job only gets harder. Every month we end up being forced to choose between several sites, about which we could easily fill this space with good things to say.

This month was no exception. But when all was said and done, when we'd spent days going back through school sites loaded to the teeth with information, we realized we kept hitting the "Back" button to go through the Pen Argyl site. Why? Because there was always something interesting to see that we hadn't looked at yet.

This isn't just a site wealthy in information. This is a site jam-packed with things of relevance and interest to students, to teachers, to staff, to parents, and to the community around the school. There's information on the school's founding, photographs of its construction, pictures of original sports teams from the school, pictures of the band performing, a student handbook, the '98-'99 school year in pictures, information on the sports games that happened last night...it just goes on from there.

Not only that, but it's all easily navigated, and it's all focused on the students. Three out of four links available from the main page have to do with giving students some vital information or, more commonly, recognizing students for their achievements in studies or some area of training. The entire site is focused on the students who make up the school, and that's something altogether too rare.

We see a lot of sites these days which could, in all seriousness, compete with a corporate site for quality of design and ease of navigation. But rarely does a site have the personality and volume of information Pen Argyl's can boast. Beyond that, every single thing there is somehow useful to, or about, the student body. It's a nice thing on which to see a site focus its efforts. And for that, it's our Star School of the Month.

Who are the people behind Pen Argyl's site?

The site for Pen Argyl Area High School is maintained by the WWW Computer class of PAHS. Maintained by students as part of their coursework, the class is taught by Mrs. Toth at PAHS. Comments regarding the site should be addressed to PAHS98@hotmail.com.