NATCHEZ — An Internet safety workshop for Miss-Lou students Tuesday will teach seventh and eighth grader that what they do online can carry consequences beyond their computer monitor or smart phone screen.

The workshop follows-up a successful Internet safety class the Miss-Lou Regionalism Education and Workforce Subcommittee sponsored for parents and teachers in October.

Regionalism steering committee member and Natchez Chamber of Commerce President Debbie Hudson said the workshop will inform students about their accountability on the web.

“(Students) have to watch how (they) communicate, because words can get out to the big world and its not the nicest place,” Hudson said.

In addition to safety tips, the workshop will teach students what parts of their online presence they are responsible for in their real life.

Every eighth graders in Adams County from Robert Lewis Middle School, Adams County Christian School, Cathedral School and Trinity Episcopal School will attend the workshop at the David Steckler Multipurpose Building.

All seventh and eighth graders in Concordia Parish from Vidalia Junior High School, Monterey High School, Ferriday Junior High School and Ridgecrest Elementary must attend the workshop at Vidalia Junior High or Ferriday Junior High.

The Mississippi speaker will be Jay Houston, an investigator for the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force in the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office.

Monica Ford of the Louisiana Attorney General’s High Technology Crime Unit will speak to the Concordia Parish students.

Hudson said the education and workforce steering committee identified Internet safety as a big issue in need of being addressed.

The workshops target seventh and eighth graders because at that young age they can still benefit from learning the rules of the web, Hudson said.

“It’s not too late for them,” she said.

Hudson said older generations grew up without knowing the laws of the Internet because the Internet was new and constantly evolving.

“We all haven’t gone through that,” Hudson said of her generation.

Students will learn, among other issues, that they should watch what they put into the world and on Facebook, Hudson said.

“We need to educate (students) on what they need to know to protect themselves,” she said.