By Peyton Capellen Posted December 7, 2017
Wikipedia has been the primary source for just about every essay, Powerpoint, and assignment that students have to do at Lowry. Wikipedia has required donations from the public to keep the site running for as long as it has but a recent drop in donations means the site does not have the funds to continue running and the site will be officially closed on December 31.
Wikipedia was created in 2001 by founders Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger.
Wales sent a tweet out on November 2 confirming the bad news.
“It is with deep sorrow that I tell you all that without proper funding we have no choice but to shut down Wikipedia. Thank you all for a fantastic 16 years,” said Wales.
Students have had a hard time dealing with the idea that they won’t be able to use Wikipedia next month. With due dates for essays and assignments getting closer many teachers made their students start going to the library to prepare them for what it will be like when Wikipedia is gone.
Sophomore Bodi Miller has had a hard time finding information for his Powerpoint presentation on the Civil War.
“I honestly didn’t even know we had a library at Lowry,” said Miller. “I didn’t really understand how to find specific books so I just looked through the entire library to find the books I needed on the Civil War, but apparently they are sectioned off into different categories and there’s a computer that can tell you where books are.”
The library, normally a quiet place is now hopping with students scouring the shelves to find the information and sources they need.
