Beth DeSalvo (in photo at right, receiving her award from Bright House Networks marketing manager Brooke Krodel), a speech-language therapist at Ernie Pyle Elementary School (IPS No. 90), won the 2010 “Get Schooled: Educate Motivate and Inspire” competition hosted by Bright House Networks in partnership with Get Schooled, a national education program co-developed by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and Viacom.

DeSalvo will receive a $2,000 educational grant that she’ll use to buy new books for students undergoing speech-language therapy. She started her own library in her school’s therapy room and entered the competition in hopes of receiving funding to add to her collection of 100 books, specifically obtaining more books for first- and second-grade students

Mark Hodges and Parker Myers, who graduated from Carmel High School in May, won a national honorable mention in C-SPAN’s national 2010 StudentCam competition their senior year. The duo submitted a video documentary titled “Homeless in America” that focused on homelessness and its challenges to the nation. Hodges and Myers will each receive a $500 educational grant from Bright House Networks as the local winner of the competition. Hal Espey, broadcasting instructor at Carmel High School, will receive a $1,000 educator’s grant for representing the efforts of Hodges and Myers.

DeSalvo, Hodges and Myers will be honored at a June 24 Bright House Networks Education Celebration Gala in Orlando, Fla.

In Alabama, Washington is an active member in the community, with current and past involvement in the Emanon Group, a non-profit education advocacy organization; the Wetumpka Chamber of Commerce; and Leadership Elmore County. She has served as board chair of the city of Wetumpka’s “Christmas in the Coosa” board, a member of the Elmore County Community Foundation and a participant in the River Region United Way Campaign. She has also been an active participant with the cable industry’s Women in Cable initiative.

Originally from  Wetumpka, Ala., Washington earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Troy University in 2001 and a master’s degree in management from Troy University’s Graduate School of Management.

Bright House Networks

Broach has nearly 25 years of experience in the cable industry. Before joining Bright House Networks, she was vice president and general manager Charter Communications’ Southern Wisconsin division. She previously held positions at Time Warner Cable and Fanch Communications.

Broach’s industry involvement includes current participation in the Alabama Cable Telecommunications Association, where she serves on the board of directors. In the past, she participated and was an active member in the Wisconsin and the Pennsylvania cable television associations. She is also a member of Women in Cable Telecommunications and is a 2009 graduate of organization’s Betsy Magnness Leadership Institute. Her community outreach includes involvement with Cable in the Classroom, United Way and Habitat for Humanity.

American Idol

Allen recently signed a new record contract with Universal Music. His self-titled debut album has sold more than 250,000 copies and his latest single,” Live Like We’re Dying,” recently reached No. 18 on the Billboard charts.

The 7 p.m. concert at Conseco Fieldhouse is a free event but tickets are required for admission. Tickets are available at any IPS elementary school.

The concert is the finale for the “Save the Music” initiative that began in 2000 by Bright House Networks and VH1 Save The Music Foundation. When Bright House Networks first joined forces with VH1 Save The Music Foundation to help IPS, music programs were virtually non-existent in the elementary schools and suffering badly in the higher grades because of budgetary constraints and the high cost of instruments.

Since, Bright House Networks and VH1 Save The Music Foundation have provided 42 IPS schools with $1.13 million of new musical instruments to restart IPS’s instrumental music program, including band and strings programs, for elementary, middle and high school students.

CBS College Sports Network will complement CBS Sports’ exclusive live network game broadcasts by providing more than 80 hours of coverage of the men’s tournament. CBS College Sports Network will also air the official highlight show of the tournament, NCAA March Madness Highlights presented by Coke Zero. Right after the end of each day’s games on CBS Sports, the highlight show will recap the action of the day with all the scores, news, highlights and analysis.

In addition, NCAA March Madness Central engineered by GMC Sierra will bring viewers exclusive in-progress game highlights, live look-ins and press conferences from every team at every site from the first-round through the championship game. For CBS College Sports Network’s complete broadcast schedule, visit CBS College Sports Network online.

On Feb. 26, Bright House and Net Literacy donated the final round of computers to Sheltering Wings, an emergency housing facility in Danville, Ind., for women and children suffering from domestic abuse (photo at left). Over the course of the last few weeks, nearly 50 computers were donated to seven Hendricks County non-profits that combined provide programs, services and computer access to more than 8,000 county residents. These Hendricks County non-profits in addition to Sheltering Wings have received personal computer donations from Bright House and Net Literacy to either implement or enhance a computer lab within their respective organizations: Hendricks County Senior Services, Sycamore Services, Mental Health Association, Susie’s Place, Head Start and Daycare Nursery Center.

Net Literacy of Indiana is an Indiana-based non-profit incorporated in 2003 by middle school students that has repurposed thousands of computers and established community computer labs in dozens of Indiana communities to provide computer access to more than 100,000 Hoosiers throughout the state.

Leading up to this year’s 100th boys tournament March 27 at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, which can be seen exclusively on the HomeTown Sports Indiana (channel No. 81 on both Bright House Networks and Comcast), the following classic IHSAA boys championship games are available starting today on On Demand:

1954: Milan vs. Muncie Central
In this game, the inspiration for “Hoosiers,” Bobby Plump hits the game winner with just 3 seconds to go for the biggest upset in state tournament history.

1955: Indianapolis Attucks vs. Gary Roosevelt
Oscar Robertson, future NBA player and arguably Indiana’s all-time greatest basketball star, leads Crispus Attucks to the first of its three state titles in five years.

1989: Lawrence North vs. Kokomo
In the last championship game played at Market Square Arena, Todd Leary scores 26 points and Eric Montross has 19 points and 18 rebounds for Lawrence North.

1995: Ben Davis vs. Merrillville
A matchup between the state’s two top-ranked teams ends with No. 1 Ben Davis winning its first-ever state title.

2007 4A: East Chicago Central vs. North Central
In the highest-scoring 4A championship game in IHSAA history, the Cardinals – coached by Pete Trgovich, who played for the undefeated 1971 East Chicago Washington team – outlast the Panthers to win the school’s first state title.

In the coming weeks, the following games will also be featured On Demand:
1956: Indianapolis Attucks vs. Lafayette Jefferson; 1965: Indianapolis Washington vs. Fort Wayne North Side; 1969: Indianapolis Washington vs. Gary Tolleston; 1971: East Chicago Washington vs. Elkhart; 1972: Connersville vs. Gary West; 1977: Carmel vs. East Chicago Washington; 1978: Muncie Central vs. Terre Haute South; 1980: Indianapolis Broad Ripple vs. New Albany; 1982: Plymouth vs. Gary Roosevelt; 1986: Marion vs. Anderson; 1990: Bedford North Lawrence vs. Concord; 1991: Gary Roosevelt vs. Brebeuf; 2000 4A: Marion vs. Bloomington North; 2005 3A: Washington vs. Plymouth; 2006 4A: Lawrence North vs. Muncie Central; 2007 2A: Northwestern vs. Winchester; 2008 4A: Brownsburg vs. Marion; and 2009 3A: Princeton vs. Rochester.

The honor will be awarded Thursday (Feb. 11) at the general session of the American Association of School Administrator’s (AASA) National Conference on Education in Phoenix.

White was chosen for his commitment to ensuring that music education is part of the core curriculum in all 64 IPS schools. He became superintendent of IPS with the goal of the district becoming a model urban school district. He implemented many groundbreaking changes to the system, including his vision that a model urban school district would include instrumental, choral and general music programs in all schools by 2010. White made the commitment to ensure all schools had certified music teachers and that the district was staffed with music supervisor positions to coordinate and foster quality music education in the district. In August 2009, that goal was met and all students in IPS have access to the benefits of music education.

Since 2000, the VH1 Save The Music Foundation and partner Bright House Networks have provided 42 IPS schools with $1.13 million of new musical instruments to jumpstart the district’s elementary instrumental music programs and the success has been maintained by the continued support of both White and the IPS Board of School Commissioners. Instrumental music, including band and strings programs, are offered to students in elementary, middle and high schools. Under White’s leadership, the district has revived the All City Choir, district music festivals and in 2009 a summer music camp that included transportation, breakfast and lunch free to IPS students.

When Bright House Networks first joined VH1 Save The Music Foundation to re-create music education programs throughout IPS, music programs were virtually non-existent in the elementary schools and suffering in the higher grades because of budgetary constraints and the high cost of musical instruments, said Wayde Klein, vice president of marketing and customer operations for Bright House Networks Indiana.

“We at Bright House Networks believe it is critically important to help keep music alive in our schools and for children at early ages and beyond to have the opportunity to express and challenge themselves with music,” Klein said. “Today, these schools have dedicated and talented teachers leading vibrant musical exploration instructions that are equipped with free instruments for students. This far-reaching and high-impact initiative would not have been possible without Dr. White’s devotion to each school that IPS serves and his dedication to keeping music alive for IPS students.”

Customers will now have more control of their TV schedules with the introduction of “Start Over,” a popular and exclusive enhanced TV feature that allows viewers to restart a live program from the beginning at any time during its scheduled broadcast. Bright House Networks will also increase the speed of Road Runner Turbo High Speed Internet service by up to 33 percent next week. http://tinyurl.com/yhpm233

To be eligible for a Star Teacher Award, teachers must demonstrate how they’ve utilized cable TV programming to develop curriculum, cross-curricular studies, classroom-to-community activities and more. Classroom projects must have been taught between September 2009 and March 2010. Teachers must also work in a state-accredited public or private school in grades kindergarten through 12 within a Bright House Networks service area, which in Indiana includes Marion, Hamilton, Hancock and Grant counties.

Teachers can visit the official Bright House Networks Star Teacher Award Web site to submit their entries online. See the Indianapolis Star for more about the new deadline.