Our site includes various points of view which enhance the educational value of our site.  Our team consists of 2 girls, one 8th grader and one 7th grader, and 3 boys, two eight graders and one 7th grader.  The girls brought artistic elements to the website, while the boys brought structure to the task of organizing the site.  Four of our team members grew up in the southern part of the US, but one grew up in the northern section of the country and brought an entirely different perspective about different cultures to our team.  While we are all from the United States, we were able to interview several immigrants to our country, two men of Hispanic heritage, one who spoke English and one who did not, and one woman from Great Britain who is applying for permanent residency. Speaking with the Hispanic immigrants changed many of our opinions about the type of people who immigrate to our country, either legally or illegally.  These men were hard working individuals who sacrificed much in order to have a better life for themselves and their families. They work long hours to send money back to their families in their native countries and to save enough money to help their loved ones join them in this country.  We also interviewed a student at our school who emigrated from the Ukraine where she had been in an orphanage.  Hearing her story and seeing what changes she has had in her life in order to become a U.S. citizen makes us appreciate all the sacrifices immigrants make.   Through these interviews and through our research, we have been able to  bring a face to the nameless term "immigrant" we have been able to look at our topic with more compassion. This project has definitely changed our “global perspective” concerning immigration.

Our team has worked together very well throughout this year.  We all were able to use our different strengths to make our team more successful.  In the beginning we did not work that well together, but it did not take long for us to start realizing at what each team member really excelled and then we began to work together smoothly.  Kate, a 7^th grader, was very quiet and did not communicate orally very well with the loud 8^th graders on the team.  She did, however, bring a work ethic that was unbelievable.  She researched and wrote everything she was asked to do.  When she finished her work early, she pitched in and helped the others who were a little slower in producing their work.  Daniel, the other 7^th grader, appeared to be “lazy,” but we decided he was just deliberate in his work.  He came in early and worked at home in order to complete his tasks.  He benefited from the help of other teammates who rallied to his aid when he was ill and missed school.  John, an 8^th grade co-captain, was adamant that he did not know how to do all “that computer stuff.” He was an excellent writer and produced very good articles.  In spite of all his protests, he became quite proficient in the use of the computer and the website building software.  Harrison, the other 8^th grade co-captain, was sometimes harsh with the new 7^th grade boy on the team.  Once he realized that he needed to be more supportive and give praise instead of criticism, he was able to get more work out of his team members.  He was also able to delegate some of the technical responsibilities to the last 8^th grader on the team, Kelly.  Kelly was new to our school and was eager to join the team as soon as she heard about our class.  Her technical knowledge was invaluable. She is a great problem solver.   Without her hard work on the menu, we could not have completed the site.  She also was a great researcher and writer who worked outside of school time to created many of our pages.  She and Harrison learned to consult with each other before making any major decisions.  We also received technical help from other members in our class who are other teams.  We learned that when we all work together, no matter what team we are on, that we are able to accomplish amazing things.