About

The Authors

Hans Coetzee

Hans Coetzee is 17 and a Senior at the State College Area High School. He was born in South Africa and his family moved to the States in 1984. His activities include: High School Cross-Country, Indoor and Outdoor Track, Concert Band and Symphonic Band. Hans also serves as a Co-System Administrator for two School District computers. Hans is a member of the Computer Systems and Technology Support Group (Computer Club) Steering Committee. He currently holds a job at the Penn State University creating a web-page for the Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering department. He enjoys running, hiking, biking, playing the trumpet, computer work, and visiting South Africa.

Alyssa Mollo

Alyssa Mollo is 15 years old, and a Junior at the State College Area High School. Her activities include: presiding over the Star Trek Club, Odyssey of the Mind, Concert Choir, and she is a member of the State High Marching Band. Her hobbies are reading, drawing, and writing fiction. She enjoys science fiction, listening to music, musical theater, and the culture of the 1960's.

David Scherba

David Scherba is 16 years old, and a Junior at the State College Area High School. His activities include: Science Olympiad, Symphonic Band, and he is a member of the State High Marching Band. He also serves as a Co-System Administrator for two State College School District computers. His hobbies are reading, camping, and working on the computer.

ThinkQuest

ThinkQuest is an activity that allows groups of students around the world to show their internet authoring ability. The purpose of this competition is to create a web site based on a certain topic, and make it available to anyone, anywhere. Awards are given in each of the major topic areas and one entry is awarded as "Best Overall."

In our case the group consisted of three people from the same school, but in other cases, the groups are formed from three different places, and they each send in their research in turn. This type of project requires a lot of time, effort, research, and computer skills. One must consider the creativity aspect as well, for the best results come from those sites which capture the user's attention the most. User interaction is a good way to make the visitor feel like they have actually learned something from simply logging into a site.

We have spent a lot of time on this project, and the results of our attempt can be seen here. We hope you have had a fun experience visiting us here today. Feel free to come back anytime!