Just like high school students, 5-year-olds can build Web sites.

Kindergarten students at Jim Darcy Elementary will spend the school year building an interactive science Web site, and journalism students at Capital High School will be able to add multimedia content to the school's student online newspaper, thanks to two grants from Qwest.

Two Helena teachers were surprised Tuesday morning with grants from the Qwest Foundation totaling nearly $10,000.

Tina Brothers, kindergarten teacher at Jim Darcy, received $6,460 to acquire a digital camera, computers, a projector and software to teach her students to design and build a Web site geared toward science.

Capital High teacher Jason Neiffer received $3,509 to purchase technical equipment and software to enable students to add videos to the online portion of "The Paw Print."

"This is so big," Brothers said, crying. "Just plopping this kind of money into one classroom is huge."

Brothers told her students they'll be able to work on small laptops to make a Web page about science that children will love to use, even those outside of Jim Darcy.

"This wasn't just about me," she told her class. "A whole bunch of people worked together to bring this to you."

Montana's first lady Nancy Schweitzer accompanied Qwest officials and school administrators as they paraded into the teacher's classroom to make the announcements and present the checks. This is the third consecutive year Schweitzer has tagged along.

"I like to support the teachers and the new innovative ways they bring their ideas into the classroom," she said.

Schweitzer began her science and math initiative in Montana four years ago and says the hard work of a teacher can inspire a student to attain new heights and spark their interest in careers in math, science and technology.

Neiffer worked on the grant application alone with a small hope it would benefit the 15 high school students he works with for the school's newspaper, which is published nine times a year.

His goal, he said, is to take the newspaper and make it more accessible to students and the Bruin community. Neiffer says the additional funding will allow students to upload information they need in a format they will utilize.

"We'll be able to integrate videos - engaging content for kids - meeting the needs of the 1,300 kids at CHS," he said.

David Gibson, president of Qwest Montana, said when he came on board with the company two years ago, the grant winners across the state shared $25,000, but he felt like more support could be used for the program. So he convinced the foundation to double that.

This year, eight winners across Montana will share $50,000 in grants to bring their programs to life for their students.

Gibson said Qwest is involved in many community-building endeavors, but handing teachers a large sum of money is one of his favorites.

"This program is where you get to put the money directly into the classroom," he said. "You get to see it in action."

The grant recipients were selected by a panel of teachers from 50 applications.

Brothers immediately started crying when she realized what the entourage was presenting.

"All of these community members come together to benefit our students," she said.

Alana Listoe: 447-4081 or alana.listoe@helenair.com