At magnet school, computers are key: "Four years after opening its doors, Crooms Academy of Information Technology is graduating its first class of seniors.

"Year by year, the school has built toward Thursday afternoon, when 99 graduates will pick up their diplomas during ceremonies at the Bob Carr Performing Arts Centre in Orlando."

"Already, 62 are going to college, with several others still making plans. Most will pursue additional education in computer technology."

"Every student is given a laptop to use at school and home, and classrooms are jammed with desktop computers, electronic chalkboards and other technical gizmos.

"Classes are small, often with only about 20 students."

"The old Crooms Academy, which was Seminole's high school for black students during segregation, seemed to some an unlikely place for the county's new magnet school for computer technology when it opened in August 2001.

"But by the following spring, a $15 million renovation of the aged campus was completed. Each fall, an additional grade level was added, finally bringing four grades and an enrollment of 540."