'Virtual Emma'

DOUGLAS COUNTY - A 9-year-old girl is finding out just how much her classmates and teachers care about her. She hasn't been able to go to school for several weeks because of an accident involving her horse. But despite the setbacks, she is not falling behind in her education.

Emma Ciafone attends Woodlands Academy in Castle Rock. When she's not in school, she loves to head down to the barn and ride her horse Sally. She's had the horse for several years, but one day the horse kicked her, causing Emma to suffer internal injuries. Emma says it was an accident, and that Sally did not mean to hurt her.

Still, the injuries would keep her in bed and out of school for weeks. One of her teachers, Welby Nalls, wasn't about to allow her to fall behind. He decided to bring school, and her friends to Emma via a web cam, using Google Talk with video chat from Gmail.

"I was like why don't we make a virtual Emma, and carry her around with us," says Nalls. "Then I didn't know how good it would work, and then we tried it and it was like wow! That is really cooler than I thought it was going to be."

A "virtual Emma" sharing virtual lunch and virtual class. The homework though, is very real. Teachers send her homework through her older brother and sister who also attend Woodlands Academy. She takes quizzes, and works on problems with the rest of the class through the family computer.

"Virtual Emma" is such a hit with fellow students, they fight over who gets to carry the school laptop around and position the web cam so Emma can "see". Emma isn't quite sure why her virtual self is so popular.

"Well, I have a couple nick names," says Emma. "Portable Emma, Virtual Emma, um, it's like depending on the day which one they'll call me. And then people were fighting over who could carry me around, 'cause, I don't know, they just like doing it."

One of Emma's friends says classmates are just happy she can be with them every day on the computer.

"It's really awesome because she won't fall behind," says Naia. "And she gets to be in school and hang out with her friends, and that probably makes being at home a lot less boring."

Emma certainly agrees with that.

"There's nothing I can't do besides hands on stuff in class."

Emma does confess that her virtual world just isn't the same as the real one.

"It's weird because usually when I'm at school, I'm out walking around and going outside, and now I'm just sitting in a chair watching everybody do all that, stuff," she says.

The 9-year-old says sitting for hours in front of the computer Monday through Friday can get a bit tiresome.

"Like sometimes in the middle of class I just get tired, I think I've kind of like dozed off a little bit," she says.

Along with tackling real homework, Emma is also learning real life lessons. One lesson is that true friends find a way to be there for you even when times get tough.

Emma is set to start her first full week of school on Monday, this time in person. While she can't wait to hug her friends and teachers, she says there are advantages to going to school from home. That includes being able to nap during breaks when she gets tired.

"I've been laying in bed, and now I actually have to get out of bed, and I'll have to get dressed," says Emma "And I like just lying in bed and sleeping."

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