Team
DelosLynbrook High, CA, United States
CarolineLynbrook High, CA, United States
MuazLynbrook High, CA, United States
Age Range
19 & under
Coaches
John ShiehLYNBROOK HIGH, CA, United States
Category
History & Government > International Politics
Business & Industry > Money & Economics
Audience
All ages
Language
English
Site Features
Online Activity / Game
Reading Guide / Book Guide
Quiz
Team Collaboration
Although Caroline, Delos, and Muaz hadn't known each other very well prior to this competition, they got along remarkably well and were able to use each of their unique talents and skills to create the final project. The trio began working immediately after completing registration, meeting at Delos' house for 12-hour periods to work and collaborate with one another. Beginning the project was difficult, as the three students had a hard time agreeing on a specific topic as well as the website layout. Countless of hours and 124 Red Hot Chili Peppers songs later, they finally agreed to focus on the economic recession and its international impact; the topic was strong in that it incorporated everybody's interests, as Delos was remarkably interested in finance, Caroline enjoyed foreign affairs, and Muaz was fascinated by the stock market. After agreeing on a topic, Team Economic411 spent another few hours at Delos' house, deciding how to best employ the topic so as to educate society in a way that was both interesting and interactive. They decided on having a Flash introduction to catch people's attention and allow viewers to enter the "home" site through a separate link, incorporating flash design with professional content. In order to facilitate efficiency, they divided the work according to each person's strength; Delos was in charge of creating the Flash introduction and website layout, as he had the most experience with Flash and Dreamweaver. Because Caroline had a substantial amount of research experience, she was in charge of the majority of the content and supplied Economic411 with most of its information. Muaz, with his knowledge in computer science, was involved in the interactive portion of the website and utilized games and activities to educate visitors in a fun and engaging fashion. These specific skills and strengths helped the progress of the site in a number of ways; for example, at one point, Delos wanted to create an interactive quiz but didn't know how to do so, despite browsing Google for instructions. When Muaz came over, he overheard the conversation and volunteered to create the quiz himself, as he had former experience in the quiz field and therefore could easily make appropriate ones for the website. This shows that each person on the team balanced out the other, as he or she utilized his or her special talents to make the site as clear and informative as possible. Moreover, because Caroline was the best writer, she wrote the site profile while Delos, the best designer, designed the layout.
Team Diversity
Team Economic411 exhibited diversity in a number of ways, including culture, religion, socio-economic status, and music taste. In terms of culture, Caroline was full Chinese, as her parents had immigrated from China before she was born. As a result, she speaks Chinese fluently and is currently learning Spanish in school. Muaz is Pakistani; although he was born in the United States, his parents came from Pakistan and practice Pakistani traditions. Interestingly, Delos does not know his ethnic origins, as his parents haven't been able to trace back their roots and discover their cultural heritage. He knows, however, that he's from an Asian region. With regards to religion, Team Economic411 shows diversity in that Caroline is atheist, Muaz is Muslim, and Delos is Christian. Furthermore, by evaluating the neighborhood each team member lives in, one can see the diverse socio-economic level within Team Economic411. Caroline lives in Saratoga, a relatively affluent neighborhood, while Muaz lives in Fremont and Delos lives in Cupertino, indicating the different socio-economic levels as different cities tend to have different wealth factors. Moreover, in terms of music, Muaz preferred hip-hop music, while Caroline and Delos enjoyed Oldies; they compromised by listening to Red Hot Chili Peppers while working. The team was able to use its strong diversity through a variety of ways; Muaz utilized his understanding of Pakistani traditions to research the global impact the recession has had on Pakistan and to draw on his unique knowledge to formulate a strong and insightful conclusion. Delos shared a personal anecdote regarding how the recession has affected his family, using his unique socio-economic status to enhance the quality of the website. Furthermore, Caroline used her socio-economic background to improve the website by drawing on what she knew of finance, as both her parents work in corporate finance, to write the "How to be Recession Proof" guide on the website. In this instance, Muaz used his cultural identity while Delos and Caroline used their socio-economic statuses to increase the quality of the website. Despite the heavy amount of diversity in Team Economic411, however, each team member got along extremely well with each other, producing a final product that satisified each and every member of Team Economic411.
