About Us:

About Us - Our Team:

 

Richard L: 

         Hi, I'm Richard!  I live in Pennsylvania, USA.  I am home schooled and in ninth grade.  I enjoy running cross-country and track.  I also like to read.  I did a lot of the writing and researching for our website. I was able to collaborate with my other team members using Skype, and Yahoo Instant Messenger.   This was a fun and educational experience for me!  I just wanted to thank you all for letting me be on your team.  It's been a really fun year. Special thanks to Mrs. W. and Mrs. P. for coaching.  I know your job isn't always easy.  I have learned so much by helping to put together this site.  I've become a better researcher and writer, and I've had fun working with my other team members.  I am also very excited about our topic.  I now realize that I don't have to be an adult to be a good steward.  I can start right now!

 

Cassandra S:

         I am 14 years old, and I live in Adelaide, South Australia with my parents and 2 older sisters and our pet dog Apollo, a 5 year old Labrador.  I am in the ninth year at high school. Some of my hobbies include basketball, soccer, swimming, dancing, drawing and reading. This has been a fantastic experience for me as it has been my first year participating in Thinkquest. My role in the project involved research and writing, I also conducted the interview with the headmaster of a primary school about stewardship and sustainability.  From this project I learned that a steward of the earth is someone who takes responsibility for protecting the earth's natural environment. This means doing things like turning off running taps, turning off unnecessary lights and electrical appliances, not using cars for short distances, and recycling. Whenever possible, we must let the decision makers know that protecting the earth is an important issue. To protect a place as big as the earth, everyone needs to be involved. In addition, I would like to thank my coaches and team mates for their encouragement and support.  It has been an enjoyable and fulfilling experience.

 

David W:

         Hey, my name is David and I’m 14 years old and I live in New Hampshire, USA. I enjoy running, playing the violin and piano, listening to music, and hanging out with friends. Participating in Thinkquest has been a really big experience for me. I served as the webmaster and an article writer.  It was fun being part of a team, and our once-a-week on-line meetings really brought some excitement into our project, as well as helping to bridge the gap between our various geological locations. Because of this Thinkquest challenge I learned a lot about programs and mark-up languages like Dreamweaver and html. So although this year was a challenge, the overall Thinkquest experience was awesome! Sometimes it’s difficult to function as a team, but I want to thank all my team members for all their hard work and my coaches for all their patience.

         By participating this year on the Stewards of the Earth team, I learned a lot about how to become a better caretaker of our earth. By reading the different articles that I and my teammates wrote, as well as the different sites that I received my information from, I learned a lot about the things that need to change for us to move towards a more sustainable future. I’ve always been interested in helping the environment, but by working together with other kids around the world on creating this website, I’ve learned that achieving a truly sustainable future might not be that far off, and I promise that I’ll help us make it a reality. 

 

 

Zackary D:

         I am 13 years old. I live in New Hampshire, USA and I am finishing up the 8th grade. I enjoy playing soccer, basketball, baseball, track and field, playing guitar and drawing. I created the Flash movie for our website, I also wrote a few articles for this project.  I feel strongly about this subject and I am honored to be a part of this team. My experience with this Thinkquest project has been amazing! I want to thank all of my team members and coaches. I have had a lot of fun with this project and with the other people on my team. I have always been aware of our planet’s "condition" and now I am going to do more about it now that I know what our planet's problems actually are.

Hannah S:

         I am 14 years old and am a freshman in high school. I live in New Hampshire, USA. My role on this Thinkquest team was a researcher and writer. This is my first year in Thinkquest, and enjoyed being part of a team, learning a lot about our topic and learning how to use the computer much better. We had a lot of fun meeting every week on Skype and Yahoo and got so much done efficiently even though we were half a world apart. My hobbies are running, skiing, singing, and acting. During this year of Thinkquest, I not only learned to work as part of a team, but I have also learned so much about being a good Steward to the earth.  As I was researching each article I wrote, I read many articles about protecting and preserving our earth. This project forced me to concentrate on our environment, and I grew to love the subject. I would like to thank my teammates for being so cooperative and uplifting, and my coaches for their persistence and dedication.  I would like to thank my parents for tolerating me when I was either writing an article or in one of our meetings. Overall, I have learned to appreciate the environment, work as a team, and be a better Steward of our earth.

 

Grace M.

 

         My name is Grace and I am 14 years old.   I go to Middle School in Pennsylvania, USA.  I live on a farm with 50 acres of land.  I have two sheep, one goat, a dog, two cats, and a gerbil.  Even though I live on a farm, I spend most of my time on the computer or reading. My main obsession is music.  A smaller obsession of mine is reading.  I spend at least two hours a day reading.  I have probably read over one hundred books in the past year. Throughout my experience with Thinkquest, I have found that it is important to communicate. There were times when I would miss a meeting and it caused me to fall a bit behind.  Since the members on my team are so spread out, using the internet was the easiest way to communicate. I also found that being punctual with the completion of my assignments was very important. Overall, I have really enjoyed Thinkquest.
  

         I have learned so much by doing this project.  I have learned ways in which we can solve the problem at hand.  Also, I learned how we got into the mess that we are currently in.  Everything that I learned will greatly impact the way I treat the earth.  I believe that by simply knowing everything that I now know, I will be a better steward.  I will be able to understand the consequences of what I am doing, therefore changing the ways I do things to change the outcome to a good one. Thank you to everyone that I worked with for this project.  You were all wonderful and so hard working.  My teammates were dedicated and my coaches were incredibly understanding.  Thanks to you all.

 

Tina P:

         My name is Tina P. and I live in Australia.  I co-coached this wonderful team together with Mary W. Mary and I met back in 2006 and we have stayed friends ever since. We often said that we should coach together, and this site is the result. I have been involved in Thinkquest since 2004 and I have found that each TQ experience is a unique one. My experience with this team was a fantastic one. I worked with a very capable group of students who produced some really exciting features for our website which I know everyone will enjoy seeing. I especially enjoyed taking Cassie out to Cowandilla School for her to interview the principal and network resource manager. They were so helpful and generous. Cassie did an excellent job with the interview.  The topic of stewardship is a very pertinent one on a global level and David, Cassie, Grace, Hannah, Richard, and Zack really got into their research, writing, and web design. They are inspirational young people who were a pleasure to work with, even though some of us were in a different time zone and half way around the world. I wish to thank the team for all their hard work. I also wish to also thank Oracle for sponsoring Thinkquest and I wish to thank Mary for being such a great person with whom to work. Thank you also to all our families, who have been so patient and understanding during this competition cycle.

 

     
Mary W:

         I am Mary W. and I live in New Hampshire.  I am the Mom of a former TQ winner, a former teacher, and a strong believer in the positive values that the TQ experience gives to students.  Because of this belief, I am willing to spend my time in co-coaching my team to produce the best possible website that they can. My Co-coach, Tina from Australia, and I became good friends 2 years ago continue this friendship by chatting way too much with each other on Yahoo.  I am very pleased with the result that these dedicated students have produced and I hope that this site will inspire many others around the world.  It is an incredible experience to work with these students and it is amazing to see the growth that they make during this process.  They learn how to write comprehensive articles well and learn Flash, Photoshop, and Dreamweaver, many of them on their own. They work so hard on this in spite of all the other school work and activities that they have. Both Tina and I appreciate all the time and effort they have put into this project.  I also thank Tina for her patience and guidance so that we could make a website of significance. I am passionate about this topic and feel very privileged to be part of inspiring the young people of this world to solve the problems we are facing.

 

         I know I speak for all of the team in thanking the Oracle Foundation for sponsoring this competition which touches the lives of so many students.  Thank you, Oracle.