Hi! I'm back...now more on my interpreting projects:
#1 Florencia y Aylen from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Their project was about documenting the erosion of the beach due to man-made beach accesses and poor city planning. The girls loved the beach but noticed the damage caused by a poorly planned beach access (a road which cuts directly to the beach/sand.) They took their findings to local authorities to raise awareness and show how they can prevent beach erosion in the future. Brilliant work and great efforts to correct a problem in their local community. Argentinian Biffles!
#2 Nayley y Tania from Mexico. They create an inexpensive "scantron" machine for use by their teachers. They explained that their teachers have 5 classes of about 50 students each and that grading exams took much of their time. They also explained that their schools had limited funds. To help the situation, Nayley and Tania designed software that would read their inexpensive "scantron" paper. Their machine consisted of a computer, an old printer, and a web cam. They wrote the software program themselves! The really cool part is that their machine has been in use in their school for the past 4 months! The teachers love it and give the girls suggestions on how to improve their machine. Again these ladies have improved their world!
#3 Christian from Puerto Rico. He used Bio Indicators (the presence of special snails) to show the contamination of ocean water near his home. He hopes to continue his project further and to raise awareness of the pollution problems in the area. Again...making a difference in his world .
#4 Clara y Emilcen from a small town (population 540!) outside Formosa, Argentina. These ladies raised an awareness about the depletion of a common tree species (Gleditsia Amorphoides) in their small town. The tree was being cut down by the locals for wood and charcoal. Occasionally, the locals would sell the seeds produced by the trees. The girls were concerned about the environmental implications of losing the tree population. Upon doing research (they had to travel an hour away to have access to the Internet), Clara and Emilcen discovered that the seeds were very important to many different industries and that they were a valuable asset to the community. Making a long story short...the girls surveyed/ informed the community that the seeds were very valuable and that they could improve the quality of lives (and the environment) if they focused on selling of the seeds. The response was overwhelming and their community now seeks to grow the seeds for profit. They girls saved the trees but also financially improved the lives of those in their community. They were selected to have their story documented in an INTEL film project called "100 People." A camera crew will be travelling to their town to film their story. Argentinian Rock Star Biffles!
I was so impressed with all of these kids. All the students at ISEF are INCREDIBLE! These guys have so much to offer our world! Here is a link to the ISEF PROGRAM. Check out the titles of the projects...welcome to the club if you have no idea what they mean!
I am so humbled and inspired by the young people I met. I was especially inspired by our group Chris, Gabby, Mohan, Morgan, Andrew,and Dileep! More on them to follow. Mr. Doug told me that the inspiration/excitement from ISEF would last for a couple of weeks...I think it will be much longer!
After a long day of judging (8:00 A.M. - 6:00 P.M.) we left for Universal Studios Hollywood until almost midnight. We rode on the Simpson's virtual reality ride (Ms. Kristy almost tossed her cookies on Dileep, Mohan, and Andrew...but they don't know!) and on the Shrek ride. We took a picture with Bart Simpson...one of us made a joke ABOUT HIM and he threatened to beat us (me) up...so much for Bart's sense of humor! Silly kid...
Thursday the Science Fair was open to the public. Participants were at their booth from 8:00 A.M. until 2:00 P.M. That night we had one of the two Awards Ceremonies...more excitment to follow!
