Team

SteveHorizon, TX, United States

RebecaIrvin, TX, United States

JasmaineYsleta, TX, United States

MayelaAndress, TX, United States

Age Range

19 & under

Coaches

David CastillioUTEP, TX, United States

Shu-Yuan MayrUniversity of Texas at El Paso, United States

Category

Health & Safety

Social Sciences & Culture

Audience

Ages 15 and up

Language

English

Team Collaboration

All of us are participants of the University of Texas at El Paso’s Upward Bound Program (UTEP UB); it is difficult for us to get together after school and in the weekends due to none of us live in the same part of the city. We met during the six-week UTEP UB Summer Program, we work very hard on our website. This was our first-time building a website and it was very interesting with lots of hard work, team work, and it is fun and very rewarding at the same time. At first it was difficult, and then slowly we got a hang of the codes and started to work as a group, instead of each of us just doing our disjointed individual pages. We called, texted via cell phones and emailed one another to address our website issues and to come to decisions from our diverse input and ideas.

Team Diversity

Our team members come from different high schools in different parts of this border city. Rebeca, our team lead, attends Irvin High School and is active in the Color Guard; Jasmaine goes to Ysleta High School, Mayela attends Andress High, Steve was born and raised in "Chuco Town" and changed schools quite often due to his family’s frequent moves. We are low-income and first-generation students attending the Upward Bound Program at the University of Texas at El Paso. We all want to be rid of our deficiencies and to succeed in life.

Once upon a time, the world's countries and cultures developed as reflections of individuality and uniqueness. We as teenagers were raised within this uniqueness and taught to perceive ourelves as an extension of it. In the past, the world started to unite through its fascination with films, television and technology. Internet driven images have replaced centuries of tradition with the universal offerings of a global supermarket. This supermarket creates our perception of beauty and this so-called ideal perfection. In the 21st century, the internet has brought us together from all parts of the globe into a unity of awareness that never existed before. The world now shares perceptions of style and fashion. Being beautiful gets one respect and power at first sight. We are conditioned to respond favorably to physical beauty and we assume that beauty on the outside endows a person with all sorts of extraordinary characteristics. This is our driving force to understand the Ideal of Perfection!