Chloe

Nationality: Australian

Age: 19

Role: Content writer, script writing for animations and interactive activities

G’Day from Down Under! I’m Chloe, 19, and I live in Adelaide, the capital city of sunny South Australia. I am currently in my second year at Flinders University where I’m studying to become a High School teacher while completing a major in Biological Sciences and a minor in Earth Science. I am undertaking my teaching placement at the moment. It is a lot of fun (though I am not too sure about the early mornings just yet) and I am gaining real insight into what it feels like to be a teacher. I am heavily involved with dancing and Pilates – ask me to bend over and touch my toes and I will! I’ve been dancing for as long as I can remember, and up until about 5 years ago, I also swam competitively.

I was introduced to ThinkQuest through Tina, our Assistant Coach. Tina lives close by here in Adelaide and has been my teacher and mentor for years. She invited me to join this team of fantastic people from all around the world – Jim (our Primary Coach), Amelia, Chris, and Pat from America, and team captain, Kishore, from India. Without their hard work and determination, we wouldn’t have the website that you see today.

My role within the team was a mixture of anything and everything that came my way. I was involved with parts of the content writing, lead by Amelia and was also called upon to ensure that all the references and citations were consistent throughout the site. I was also asked to research and supplement the articles that had been written with non-internet resources to make certain that each topic had a variety of reference sources. My main role within the team, however, was to create the scripts that Chris and Pat used to produce the animations and interactive activities seen regularly throughout the site. This involved reading each article thoroughly and trying to come up with something unique that MM-19 could be doing to highlight the content of a particular page.

I worked with Amelia to ensure that the articles were written and edited to our expectations, and in a manner that would be acceptable to the judges. This took time to establish, but once we worked things out, we were on the move. I worked alongside Pat and Chris to ensure that the way they perceived my scripting was indeed what I had in mind for the site, with regards to both animation and content.

I also collaborated with Kishore to ensure that each team member was kept up to date on our timetable. This was often challenging due to the time difference between India and Australia, but we learned to be flexible for we knew how important it was to keep the paths of communication open. I worked extensively with Tina, who would provide guidance when needed, most often late at night. Her help was always spot on and appreciated.

Since I had never been involved with a ThinkQuest team before, this turned out to be a completely different experience than how I imagined it would be. For instance, because of the differences in time, there were many weekly chat sessions that had to be conducted late at night here in Australia. This took some getting used to.

This whole process has been an experience that I am proud to have been a part of and will always remember. This team has been awe-inspiring to work with. We have had many busy, productive, and not to mention humorous moments along the way. A huge thank you to Tina, Jim, Pat, Chris, Amelia, Kishore and Laura for all the hard work that helped make our website looking as fantastic as it does!!

See also: Reference List, Credits