Coming Up: First-Ever Kids Gorilla Summit

If you read Evan's entry about Scholastic's campaign to raise awareness about endangered African mountain gorillas, then you know that we've been busy getting things ready for the Looking For Miza Kids Gorilla Summit at Scholastic headquarters in New York City.

Saving the gorillas is hard work! There's a lot of activity going on behind the scenes as we entire the final stages of preparation. So many details go into the planning, things like:

• working out the technology to bring this event to you LIVE on the web, creating a set for the stage and designing lighting for it
• coming up with a "shot list" for the webcast (which cameras will be on whom and when)
• fine tuning the content for the program and writing a script (I'm already on a 9th draft of the outline! — click the image on the right for a larger view)
• planning for special guests (like Dr Richard Leakey, the famed environmentalist)
• coordinating video messages (from former President Bill Clinton and the great American Zookeeper, Jack Hanna)
• editing all the video footage
• coordinating travel for the four Scholastic Kid Reporters based in Rwanda (the photo on the right is of Grace, one of the reporters)

WHEW!!! I'm exhausted just listing it all.

But rest assured — we are just about ready for the big day: Friday, September 26th, 10 a.m. ET.

So we hope you'll tune in on the big day (www.scholastic.com/mizagorilla). It's not only going to be fun and interesting, but we're confident that you will walk away with a newfound inspiration to help the mountain gorillas and the people of the region.

— Billy, Scholastic Vice-President of Productions