On May 20, nine students and one teacher from the schools in the Coast of Bays region met with a group of students from schools in the Emerald Zone to travel to St. John's to tour Information Technology related businesses, corporations and agencies. The trip was co-sponsored by Newtel, Operation ONLINE, the Coast of Bays Corporation and the Emerald Zone Corporation.

On arriving in town, the group had a dinner meeting with Craig Slaney of Operation ONLINE who spoke to them about the IT industry in the province and encouraged the group to explore IT business ventures in rural Newfoundland and Labrador.

The next day was very busy for the students. During the morning it was a tour of ZeddComm, a software company started by two enterprising university students who decided to start their own business instead of 'working for someone else'. ZeddComm produces CD-ROM and other media products for use by the US military and hospitals across the US and Canada. They have also produced software for the Space Shuttle experiments. Newtel Communications was the next stop. Here the tour gave the group an idea of opportunities in IT as it relates to business and communications and the education requirements to get involved.

After a quick lunch break, the group was given a tour of the Institute of Marine Dynamics, a Centre of Excellence which is funded through the National Research Council of Canada. Here the students saw how models of marine structures and vesels are modelled and run in wave and ice tanks to simulate real seaway conditions. The data collected is used to design ships or modify existing vessels and structures to meet certain conditions. Then it was on to the Genesis Centre, a technology business incubator, where they toured and met with a group of young people who started their own business developing software.

The students returned home on Saturday after a tiring three days of activities.