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        Copyright
© 2000 Team C001515 |
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"Heroism in Action" was created by three diverse students from Australia, Italy and United States. Although we all live in three different continents and have never met each other in person, our friendship has grown through our teamwork using technology. We have traveled the Information Superhighway together, and we all hope to meet each other, in person, at the ThinkQuest 2000 Finals in Cairo, Egypt. Follow the links below to learn about the creators of this site. Students: Alice, Nico and Jonathan Coaches: Kerry Howard, Jason Anderson and Cameron Taggart My name is Alice Barnes and I live in Australia in the State of Victoria, in a large-ish city called Ballarat, which is approximately eight thousand, five hundred km's directly from Milan and twelve-thousand from L.A. Although that doesn't sound like much, just think of the amount of computer cords that it took to join Nico, Jonathan and I as a team!
I thought that having teammates on the other side of the world would cause us some serious problems, especially in the communication and language department. I know Nico's English improved out of sight when he was thrown into chat with us, I wish I could say the same about my Italiano! And about meetings! I had enough trouble coordinating myself with Kerry who lives in the same town as me and the same time zone! It was lost to me for months to try and find convenient times to meet my teammates. Nico, Jonathan and I have worked really hard to bring you this site on the Heroism in Action, so thankyou for visiting. Modesty is obviously not my strong point. When Nico wasn't coordinating my work hours, he worked relentlessly on the technological side of this project along with Cameron his coach. I did the majority of the written work, the "really hard stuff", with the help of my coach Kerry. Jonathan spent a lot of time doing the flashy bits, but also helped me out a lot with the content for the pages. We shared the workload pretty evenly but got distracted when we began chatting… Anyway, I really wouldn't have made it through this project if it weren't for the constant pushing and prodding from my coach which, while it made me frustrated at times, was the boot I needed to get going. I also have to thank my wonderful team mates Nico and Jonathan who accepted my dyslexia when it came to computers and the internet. Thankyou guys for inflicting this massive learning curve onto my unsuspecting little brain! I'm currently in year 11, trying to maintain half-a-social life, and preparing to go overseas on a cultural exchange to Italy; this includes language lessons and working to fund my trip, which took up a heap of my McTime!! This means that Nico is going to have to take me all over the peninsula! I am still very happy that I participated in this competition, even though I couldn't have had a more hectic year. I got to meet some amazing people, and while I marvelled at their astounding computer knowledge; I came to realise the potential I had myself when I got up off my derriere and did something with it, my potential I mean. Because ask my entire team about it, Australian teenage girls are some of the laziest creatures in the world! My name is Niccolò Dalla Palma: but Nico for friends. I live in Milan (Italy), but I'm half Italian and half Dutch (I was born in Holland). I've still got 2 years of school left before going to University, there are two reasons why: I'm only 16 years-old and in Italy we have 5+3+5 school-years, so ± 2 more than in other countries.
I was extremely busy with school this year: I worked on this website, I played clarinet (I have been playing it for 5 years), I was also a swimming-teacher and I had my own swimming-hours at the pool. All this took up a lot of my time, but thanks to my extra activities I was rarely bored. It was a fantastic year! The main task for me on the website was to create the Heroes Database; all the other MySQL databases (e.g. the Guestbook, the Phorum, the Chatroom and the "vote-machine"). All this required me to use PHP v.3 (an HTML embedded language), which I learnt all about thanks to my coach Cameron. "Heroism in Action" was the best site I've worked on to date: I had the possibility to learn and enjoy lots of new things. That's why I have to thank all of people who helped me, above all my coaches. I also thank my teammates for working so hard, my family and my friends for supporting me, and for organizing this contest, Advanced Network.
My name is Jonathan and I wrote, spoke, illustrated and researched material in a coordinated team effort to help create Heroism in Action. I will be attending Stanford University in the fall as I leave behind my alma mater, Mt. Carmel High School and family in San Diego, CA, USA. I love participating in social activities and actively participate in sports. I play volleyball and am a black belt in Taekwondo. I love to draw and expand my academic horizons. Creating this site was "no picnic," there were obstacles and problems that had to be worked out and overcome. Boy am I glad that the storm was weathered as I was inspired by the strength of my teammates, learning a great deal from them and myself.
I would like to thank ThinkQuest for making this educational opportunity possible and encourage everyone to make a difference and be a Hero in action!
This project has given me the chance to catch up with the work that Roger is doing - and to introduce a whole new generation of students to these ideas. It has been thrilling to work with a new team of students this year and to see the growth in skills in young people who have a vision, then set out to develop the skills needed to achieve this. Above all I congratulate the team for taking on a subject that I think is so significant as we move into the new millennium. The students themselves have made many sacrifices to reach this point. While as coaches we have had a role in this, the hours of support, advice and tolerance shown by the family of the students must not be overlooked. Alice's brother cannot wait for her to go to Italy so he can get the computer back. Mrs A. while not an "official coach" has done heaps to support both the students and the coaches on the team. (Thanks!) The importance of a global perspective, of developing new values and of a sense of purpose to try and make a positive difference for others in the world is sometimes overlooked in our personal haste to get bigger and better. We can do it!
After graduating valedictorian from Mt. Carmel High School in San Diego, CA, USA, I am attending Stanford University. Like most students my age, my major is still not set in stone, although all of the majors I am considering involve advanced computer technologies. This summer, I am interning at SUN Microsystems in the High End Services and Engineering division. My hobbies range from photography to hiking to playing on the computer. The skills that I have learned from participating in ThinkQuest - as a student and as a coach - have not only allowed me to get jobs in the web industry and finance my college education, but have taught me life-long lessons in project management and working as a team. From these interactions, I learned that designing web pages is a lot more than just programming. ThinkQuest gave me an opportunity to express my views and opinions and contribute to the rest of the world - thank you Al Weis and the rest of Advanced Network & Services for making this all possible!
I am a senior attending the University of Washington s Business School. I will be graduating in June of 2001 with a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration (BABA), Information Systems Option. During the 1999-2000 school year, I took three programming classes, a system analysis class, and a database design class which all helped better grasp the concepts from an academic perspective and helped me teach them as well. As Nico's coach, I helped him learn how to use and install Apache, PHP, MySQL, and phpMyAdmin. I also showed him a few programming techniques and a bit about the Structured Query Language (SQL). His ongoing effort throughout the year was invaluable. Outside of web development, coaching, and classes, I like to ride my mountain bike, inline skate, and play basketball. I am also Vice President of Operations for the Undergraduate Management Consulting Association (UMCA).
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This
is my first year as part of the Thinkquest competition, but I have thoroughly
enjoyed it. My English teacher Kerry got me involved when she noticed
how much of a sap I was for extra curricular activities, and the fact
that I can't say no to an opportunity. I worked with her last year on
an Australian site called The Begonia Festival, which won a state award
and the two of us, with my other teammates got to spend a day in Sydney.
This
is the second time I've participated in ThinkQuest. Last year I helped
create "Radiology: the eyes that look into our inner body". This year
I decided to join in again, because I really had a lot of fun making my
first site last year. I think that Thinkquest is one of the best ways
to learn about new things and to improve my knowledge about the internet
and the English language. 
I
would like to extend a thank you to my teammates Alice, Nico and coaches,
you all did a wonderful job persevering and helping to create this great
website! 
It's
amazing how one's actions can impact others. Everything an individual
does no matter how obscure or miniscule can make a difference. Whether
it be lending a hand to the elderly, walking a neighbor's dog, teaching
someone a hidden talent or simply smiling at a passerby, your actions
can impact, influence and improve the lives around you. The world needs
more heroes, inspiring young individuals to live a moral and better life,
making the world a happier place. 
When
I was teaching in the late 1970's and 1980's I was fortunate to have worked
with students in developing Community Participation projects at Caulfield
Secondary College. Much of the inspiration for what we did came from a
man called Roger Holdsworth who used his own time and resources to produce
a magazine supporting youth participation in student government as well
as in the way we approach education.
This
year has been an interesting and exciting one as I participated in ThinkQuest
for the fifth time, but this time taking on a new role as a coach. I am
amazed and impressed by the quality of work that this team has produced
as I helped develop this site from a new perspective. Congratulations
team!
As
always, this past year presented many challenges to me and the students
which I have been coaching. I would like to thank Alice, Kerry, Jonathan,
Jason and especially Nico for giving me the opportunity to coach again
this year. I have been a part of the ThinkQuest Internet Challenge since
it started in 1996. I was a participant from 1996 to 1998 and then I started
coaching in 1999. I have probably learned more about heroism and coaching
than they have learned from me about web application development and database
design.
