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- Forming Friendships Across Time Zones
- A Quest that Ends in Reward
- Teamwork Hatches Award-Winning Site
- Reflections from a First-Time Coach
- Raising Awareness of an Environmental Emergency
- Making a World of Difference in AIDS Education
- Don't Know Much About Biotechnology?
A Quest that Ends in Reward
By William Ang
Avian Flu: Under the Microscope
Every quest has a beginning. Mine began in the summer. There is nothing more uncomfortable than sitting at your computer in the middle of summer while the temperature is hot. But I didn't care. The beginning of anything brings with it thrill and excitement. We could have gone outside to play…we could have been lazy and just watched TV marathons…but we chose to use our summer for our ThinkQuest project. We wanted as much time as possible.
The very first day you begin your work is strange. You find yourself with an empty canvas on your computer. For a few minutes I sat there, wondering what to do, what to draw. The problem was that I had not researched my topic properly—by that, I mean not at all! It's quite hard to draw something when you have no idea what it is. And so instead of just staring at the screen, I began researching my topic, Avian Flu.
And before you knew it, summer had flown on by, and the school year was starting. We suddenly had to balance schoolwork along with the project. We no longer had the luxury of wasting time. As soon as I got home, I did my homework, and then began working on ThinkQuest. By now, I had gathered enough knowledge to begin the work on graphics, and I chugged along to keep the project going. During this time, my brother, who was away at boarding school, joined my team. I already had two members located half-way across the world, one in Australia and one in Vietnam, and I soon gained two more members from the US. I learned that it is important to communicate with your team, and for your team to communicate with you. If you go off doing different things without a basic plan, all is lost.
Taking a Break
In October, I began studying for the SAT test that I needed in order to apply for a youth program at Johns Hopkins University. By the end of that month, I realized that juggling ThinkQuest, school, and studying for the test was too much. I came to the conclusion that I had to take a break from ThinkQuest. I announced my break on the team forum, and went back to studying. After a few months, I took the SAT. A few weeks later, I received my scores. I was quite happy with the results.
The day I went back to my computer to rejoin ThinkQuest was a day to remember. It felt awkward to open up my work again. It felt unfamiliar, yet familiar—like a faded memory. I felt like I didn't know what I was doing. Even posting on the team forum felt a bit awkward. However, there was no time to waste. I had lost a whole two months with my studying. So, for the next few months I worked furiously, coming up with ideas and then scrapping them just as quickly. I even woke up early each day to give myself more time to work. At each deadline, we stayed up very late, making sure everything was all right. Near the end of the competition, everybody pitched in with unmatched energy. Annie, my teammate from Austalia, sent me 21 emails in one hour listing all the problems of the website. I was still updating the site up until the last minute of the final deadline. After it passed, I felt triumphant. It was momentous—the quest was over. And I sat down on the sofa and for the first time in quite a while, took a nap. It was well deserved.
Waiting for the Results
Alas, the wait for the results is mind-boggling and painful. You look at the calendar every day, mentally pleading it to fast forward. The day the winners were to be announced, I rushed downstairs at 4:00 in the morning, opened the ThinkQuest website, and found…nothing. For several hours I wasted my time refreshing the page over and over again. Then, my brother went into the ThinkQuest Library and discovered our names didn't have "winner" next to them. I nearly cried and was in a gloomy mood for the rest of the day. Then, in the evening, my dad checked the site again and discovered we had won Honorable Mention! We may not have won First Place, but the fruits of out labor did not go unrewarded.
In truth, absolutely nobody's work went unrewarded. Anybody who does ThinkQuest does not go unrewarded. For they have gained knowledge. They have acquired new skills. They have worked together as a team. They have learned to sacrifice. A quest has a beginning and an end. Both are important, but the end is determined by what you do in the middle, how much you work, how much you try, how much effort you put in. And even if the end is not the end you were expecting, you know that you have done something great. And that is reward enough.
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