- A Bridge for Cultural Exchange
- Bitten by the Web Design Bug
- Student's Persistence Leads to Victory
- 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?
Teamwork Hatches Award-Winning Site
By Bianca M.
Chicken Dumplings for Your Mind
During second grade, the "highlight" of our technology studies was a software program featuring an insipid computer wizard. He would appear on screen and utter, "Hello. Please type your name in the box and press enter." Then the computer monitor would light up with a lesson or comprehension test on fractions and decimals.
Things got much more exciting in third grade when a new technology teacher came to school. Mrs. Lockard introduced typing programs, Microsoft PowerPoint classes, Video Production, and most exciting of all, an after-school Technology Class. As Mrs. Lockard said, "If you would like to join, you have to work three hours per week and come every Monday or you will be dismissed immediately. No whining." So, my peers and I chose to sit down in our computer lab and, literally, we began to build websites.
Struggling with Teamwork
The first website I created for the ThinkQuest competition was titled "Cancer." I interviewed people who had suffered through the disease, learning about what they and their loved ones had to endure. Researching and writing the articles gave me a new respect for all the folks out there with cancer. During the months of building the website, however, our team struggled through many things. I was bossy and wanted everything to be done my way. Some of the team members quit because of my unwillingness to share tasks, so I was left alone to do most of the work. I had to find new team members to help. That year, I learned two important values: teamwork is key and a team without respect for each member flounders. (The saying "Together Everyone Achieves More" is very true.) In spite of our weaknesses, our website made the top 50 and was entered in the ThinkQuest Library.
The next year, our team designed a website on transportation. I learned about every mode of transportation I could think of, from the history of wheelbarrows to the future of cars. Unfortunately, the field was so large and had so much information that we never finished it. The important lesson I learned that year was to utilize the wisdom and direction of my coach; she could have told us that our topic was too large.
Chickens Bring Us Together
This year I entered middle school, yet I continued to come back every Monday for Technology Class. Our site was "Chicken Dumplings for Your Mind." Wow! I never knew that chicken is the only meat that all religions are able to eat (excluding vegetarian religions), nor did I know how important chickens are in our everyday lives. If there were a pandemic blight such as avian flu, this daily staple would vanish from our tables, along with millions of jobs that the chicken industry provides. From reading about "Mike the Headless Chicken" to eating tasty Indian tandoori chicken, this website competition was a blast!
This time, teamwork was the catalyst of our success, including all the parents who put their time in to make the chicken recipes. Robert, the graphics and animation captain, wrote all the last-minute articles and put the website together during the final stages. Trenton wrote about chicken development, nutrition, and breeds. His grandfather even volunteered to raise chickens for our chicken development lab. Scott wrote about the nutritional value of chickens, preparation methods, and safe handling of eggs. Scott and his mom also made a disgusting ancient Roman chicken recipe that they said "perfumed" the whole house! Borna, our foreign student, wrote about issues and traditions in Croatia, visited farms in Croatia, and assisted with avian flu research. Jackie, our artist, drew all the pictures, wrote about the industry, and tested all the links to make sure they were working correctly. I, the team captain, wrote about avian flu and biosecurity, economic impact, and chicken trivia. I would like to applaud Mrs. Lockard, my coach, for introducing our team to this thrilling opportunity, and to Mrs. Kieffer, the assistant coach, for taking us on field trips and helping us write articles.
Victory at Last
"Yeah!" I screamed when I saw the competition results. I could not believe we had won second place, nor can I believe how I have progressed in my technological skills. As I look back, I realize I gained a plethora of information. ThinkQuest changed my life. Not only have I matured emotionally, I have gained a breadth of knowledge and essential values that will continue to be with me every day: I now know how to research exceptionally and I often refer to websites in the ThinkQuest Library while doing a research project. I also know how to work as a team player—working together instead of having people work for you—and how to choose an intriguing topic. While many others may quest for the best wardrobe or top video game scores, I am privileged to have been on a quest for thought, a quest I will continue for my entire life. Who knows what ThinkQuest will have in store for me next?
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