News of the Past a Great Assignment for Computer Class and Fundraising

Many years ago I purchased a program that was called "News of the Past" and have used it for many years in a variety of situations. In the classroom, the age of a student may not be old enough for the program to compile and print that much interesting information, but if a student puts the information into the program for their parents or grandparents, then the information displayed is often very interesting. The program displays the political events of the time, the names of the popular movies and songs being played, the names of famous people also born on that date. The program also compares the cost of such things like the cost of an automobile, the cost of a house, the cost of gasoline, the cost of a gallon of milk and the cost of a loaf of bread. The program will print out a color printout or can print on special paper with a suitable background. The program I had would also print out what happened on a specific anniversary date. Some of these types of programs can be modified, some can not. The database of information covers a time span of about 100 years.

I began using this program as an activity in my computer classes and it always created a great deal of interest and in fact after the students print out their own birth date, they are printing out the information for their parents and other relatives. Many are getting on their cell phones and getting the information for many additional relatives. They begin to ask if it is ok to print so many and I always say that it is an assignment and they can print as many as they want but need to give everyone a turn. Rarely does something create so much interest. This program dramatically shows how a computer program can be used to create an interesting assignment.

Later I began running this program in my school and it still created interest in my classes, but a variety of clubs asked if they could use the program as a fundraiser. I checked with the company and as long as I did not give them the program, they could use it on my computer without a problem. The clubs asked for a "suggested" donation of $2.00 per printout and they sold hundreds of them. Students really liked the printouts because it made a great gift especially if they put the printout into a picture frame. Of course you can get inexpensive picture frames in many dollar only type stores which are all over the country. If your school has a "carnival" type of event to raise funds, this makes an excellent booth. It only takes a laptop or desk type computer system and a good quality color printer. You will need to have plenty of ink and paper available. It would be good to display some examples and to be prepared to print out ones for anniversaries or other special dates.

About 15 years ago, a very large area of my city had a grand opening event of a business district. This was a big event and there was a person running this program at a small table. He had signs up telling about the program and he sold over 2000 printouts in a weekend. Not bad for just a couple of days. (Actually the event lasted a whole week.) This could produce more funds for the school than a "candy sale" which is common in schools and would not cost much.

A data collection form would need to be used to properly collect the information and it would have to be printed very clearly. Mistakes will happen and some pages may have to be reprinted, but it makes a really fun fundraiser.

When I first purchased the program it sold for about $30.00 and there are now newer versions that sell for around $50.00 and there are professional versions that sell for up to $200.00. Many versions are downloadable and may let you try them for a limited period of time without fully purchasing the program. Sometimes trial versions have limitations and this could be a problem if for example the limitation is that it will not print.

I have not listed a particular company that sells this type of program but you can search the internet and find versions of this type of program available. Some types of programs are easier to use than others, so you may want to try it first if possible. I had a version at one time that worked well, but was not well designed for the end user so it was difficult to use initially.

This would also make a great program for a social studies class, for a home economics class, or as I have stated for a computer class.