HOWELL -- When Manet Moore finishes technology literacy class at Highlander Way Middle School, she'll have learned more than simply how to navigate a computer.

Manet will know how U.S. soldiers wounded in battle are honored with the Purple Heart.

That knowledge, she said, really brings the class to life.

"I look forward to that class so much," she said.

She is one of 36 eighth-grade students who are completing a community service project and PowerPoint presentation under the guidance of teacher Carole Colburn.

In Project: SERVE, as Colburn calls it, "the assignment is for each student to produce an informative and inspirational PowerPoint slide show -- with music -- that can raise awareness or compel viewers to get involved," she said.

Students choose their subjects, although the central theme this year is U.S. military service.

Malorie Sansbury is studying the Grand Rapids Home for Veterans, a short-term skilled nursing facility.

Shelby Zastrow is learning about benefits for U.S. troops like free medical treatment. Trevor Perdue and Curtis Sitler are researching American Legion community contests and programs.

Colburn's students also will be interviewing veterans, and they'll hold a 35-minute "Day of Honor" for them Nov. 1 in the Highlander Way gym.

PowerPoint presentations will be shown, the school band and choir will perform, and eighth-grade social studies students will read essays about democracy and patriotism.

Highlander Way eighth-graders will make up the audience, but parents, community members and veterans are invited to attend.

Colburn's extra efforts with the project haven't gone unnoticed. She recently returned from the 2006 Microsoft U.S. Innovative Teachers Forum at the Microsoft corporate campus in Redmond, Wash.

She went with Chris Eldred, the applied technology teacher at Three Fires Middle School. They made up one of 28 teaching teams from 17 states that were given an all-expenses-paid trip to the forum because of their collaborate efforts and creative use of technology.

Colburn's project last spring focused on Habitat for Humanity. Eldred's eighth-grade students got involved by making eight dollhouses that resemble the simple, affordable homes that Habitat builds for families.

Other Highlander Way eighth-graders contributed.

For example, art students crafted art pieces and furniture for the dollhouses, and French students labeled the furniture in French. The dollhouses were raffled, with the $827 in proceeds benefiting Livingston County Habitat for Humanity.

Habitat Executive Director Larry Pfeil was thankful for the funds and impressed by the students' contributions to what Colburn dubbed Project: HOUSE.

"The students really bought into the project, which is a tribute to their teachers," Pfeil said. "One of the PowerPoint reports is so good that, with the student's permission, I showed it during a presentation I made to a local group.

"I may use other students' PowerPoint reports later."

Elson Liu, technology services coordinator for Howell Public Schools, said the fact that Colburn and Eldred were selected for the Microsoft forum from among hundreds of applicants says a lot for the district's emphasis on technology.

"All of our teachers use technology to varying degrees, but Carole is particularly creative," Liu said.

Steve Stein is a Metro Detroit freelance writer.